Dancing In The Snow
by SiliconOverlord27
Summary: He can hear her, in his head. The whispers of advice and warning. He can feel her, willing him to use her power. On that dark night, he acknowledges her in a way she never thought possible. AU post Episode 16 of the anime.
1. Chapter 1 - First Dance

"So tell me, what's the name of that monstrosity?"

" _MONSTROSITY?!"_

Ichigo Kurosaki couldn't help but chuckle. Equal parts at the arrogance of the crimson pineapple head that stood before him, and at the utter fury that filled his mind. "My sword doesn't like being called a monstrosity. As for the name...Why don't I just _show_ you?" He asked with a wide smirk. "Eh?" he enjoyed the instant narrowing of Renji Abarai's eyes, and the faint "Nani?" He heard from the girl behind him. As well as the sudden shock he felt from inside his own being.

" _You...you can hear me?"_

From the day that Rukia Kuchiki gave him her powers to help him save his family, Ichigo had begun to feel nudges and hear whispers in his mind. Little tidbits of information. Tips and tricks.

His stubborn and headstrong nature as it was, he didn't always listen to the whispers that he heard, even as they steadily increased in clarity and volume. But they had _always_ turned out to be right. Steadily he'd grown to trust the voice, more and more. And most recently, when he drove the Menos Grande back to Hueco Mundo, he'd realized something.

He knew who that voice was.

He didn't know how, and he didn't know why.

But he knew the name.

And he knew how to call on it.

"I will warn you, I don't think she's too happy you're trying to take away a friend of hers either."

He hefted the large blade off of his shoulder, extending out to his right hand side, blade pointed at the ground. His calm demeanor a stark contrast to the whirlwind of excitement inside of him while he eagerly prepared to meet the true form of his sword.

" _Dance_ , Sode no Shirayuki."

The redhead widened his eyes in disbelief.

The raven-haired midget gasped, stepping backwards in shock.

Even the unflappable noble observing seemed to freeze, even in his stoic pose, at the words.

The carrot-topped substitute exploded in a blazing inferno of pure energy.

Renji and Rukia both had to cover their eyes against the blinding light and force themselves to stay upright against the sudden onslaught of reiatsu. The midget failed, rather spectacularly. Driven to her knees by the waves of power, the disbelief over the fact that her Zanpakuto...HER Zanpakuto...had just been called by someone else. An emptiness settled into her heart, a pain and despair joining the guilt that had taken root there ever since she'd met this boy.

Ichigo, on the other hand, simply found the world around him fading away as he was pulled into another...

 _ **-Scene Break-**_

When he opened his eyes, he found himself feeling rather calm, if a little confused. He glanced around him to get his bearings, and quickly realized a few things;

For one, He was standing on a window.

Two, he was standing on a window on the _side_ of a skyscraper.

For three, the ground was off to his right hand side. And yet he wasn't falling towards it.

Surprisingly, these observations did little to shake the calm that had fallen over him, for a cool breeze and a light dusting of snow seemed to just wash all of the worries away. It seemed...peaceful.

When he returned his attention in front of him, he found a woman standing across from him, looking at him cautiously. As if she were daring herself to hope that he could see her and hear her.

He found his attention wandering again, observing the woman...she was, quite simply, beautiful. Off-white, lavender tinged hair fell around her face, framing ice blue-gray eyes, and a slender form wrapped in a white kimono. _"How do you know my name?"_ The woman asked softly, taking a cautious step towards him.

Ichigo blinked to regain his mental faculties and gave a one armed shrug, using the motion to bring his hand behind his head to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly. "Honestly? I don't know. I just... _do."_

The woman blinked again, seemingly in awe of that simple ignorance towards how he knew the earth-shattering knowledge he held. _"You know who...what...I am?"_ She pressed.

The carrot-top nodded again, somehow feeling the familiarity of the being in front of him. "You're Sode no Shirayuki. You're...well. Right now you're my Zanpakuto, but I think you were Rukia's. Or you still are. I don't know. Maybe I...for lack of a better term...I stole you, maybe I borrowed you, or maybe we're sharing you."

More awe and disbelief covered the spirit's features, and Ichigo found himself rubbing the back of his head, giving off a grimace at the slightly awkward situation. "I've been hearing you for a while now. You always tried to scream warnings and lessons to me. Sometimes I listened. But I think we both know I'm really stubborn and sometimes I didn't. Look. I'm not sure how I know all of this...Really, I'm not. But right now, we have to save Rukia. Can you help me do that?"

He wasn't expecting the spirit to rush at him and envelop him in a hug. Her body was cool to the touch, but it wasn't at all unnerving, and he wrapped his own arms around her.

The mental world began to fade away, much as the world outside had, and he caught sight of a dark figure standing on a pole on the next building over, cape billowing in the frosty wind. A dark figure that had shifted to look at him over it's shoulder, sunglasses glinting in the light of the sun that shone off to his left, long dark hair and stubble shrouding much of the other visible features.

He saw the figure give him a single nod...perhaps of approval? Before the world faded away completely.

 _ **-Scene Break-**_

'Even Sode no Shirayuki left me…' Rukia thought to herself as she stared at the sidewalk, the pressure exuding from her carrot-topped companion of the last two months preventing her from so much as lifting her head to look directly into the storm that he'd become. A veritable tornado of reiatsu, swirling around him and threatening...okay, well, not threatening, ACTUALLY ripping pebbles from the concrete of the sidewalk that began to swirl around him as well.

Something in her must have broke, because she could swear she heard faint, girlish giggles of glee at the events.

And then the storm broke, pure blue reiatsu exploding outwards with a swipe of the sword from Ichigo. A beautiful pure-white katana, with a white ribbon extending from the grip and coiling around the substitute's arm. A familiar sword...her sword.

Or at least it had been, at one time.

He stood there, eyes closed, still exuding reiatsu from every pore of his body, looking much like he was on fire, but he was completely calm.

"You...you son of a bitch. It wasn't enough for you to steal Rukia's powers, you stole her goddamn Zanpakuto too?!" Renji shouted as soon as the spiritual pressure had settled down to manageable levels. "That's it! Howl, Zabimaru!"

Eyes opened, the warm caramel gone, replaced by an electric blue that matched the reiatsu he was exuding. 'Segmented blade...Shirayuki, if you can hear me, does that thing extend into a whip?'

' _It does.'_

'Wonderful.' Ichigo thought, leaping up into a backflip when Renji swung at him. 'I think I know what to do. Shirayuki, May I have this dance?'

' _You know it?'_

This whole time, Ichigo had kept the blade of Sode no Shirayuki extended out to his right, he twisted the blade to face towards Renji now.

'I believe I do.'

"Some no mai...Tsukishiro." With that, still suspended in mid-air, he slashed at the redhead.


	2. Chapter 2 - Leading The Dance

"Where are we, sister?" A man with chin length, dark hair questioned in his white robe, a tall scythe of red and white towering over him, held in his right hand as he peered around the world they suddenly found themselves in.

A swirl of dark purple reiatsu was fading around them. Having encompassed them of it's own volition, him and his blonde and pink hair sister found themselves yanked from Hueco Mundo to this...unfamiliar place.

His shorter sister looked around, tattered robes swaying at the action. So close. So close they were to finding their way back to Rukia, and now she had no idea where they were again! She glanced back at him, tears threatening to fill her eyes...and then she felt it. She felt as if she were surrounded by the friend they'd missed so much...But how? Rukia wasn't here.

Lightning flashed across the sky. The deafening roar of thunder splitting eardrums soon afterwards. A chill filled the air, winds ripping at their tattered clothing while the two siblings suddenly rushed together in an embrace.

"Even Sode no Shirayuki left me…"

The blonde widened her eyes in surprise and glee, looking up at the sky. The voice had come from everywhere. "Rukia!" She shouted out, and began giggling in glee. "Rukia! Where are you?! Rukiaaa!"

 ** _-Scene Break-_**

Snow and ice crawled up from the ground, clawing at the feet of the redhead. His eyes widened slightly, and then he jumped quickly. Something that the carrot-top opposing him quickly noticed.

'Talk to me, Shirayuki!' He begged, landing on his feet and sliding backwards across the sidewalk, extending her once again out to his side, with the blade pointed down. 'I need your help!'

He felt a burst of cold happiness at that. _'That's Renji Abarai. He was Rukia's best friend before they became Shinigami. Zabimaru's shikai is like a whip. So he tends to stand still. Don't try to get too close.'_

Ichigo grunted as he ducked under a swipe from the segmented blade. 'If I don't get close to him, how the hell am I supposed to hit him?' He thought, jumping to the side to avoid a third strike, and narrowing his eyes when the blade retracted back towards the redhead.

' _You've already done it. Dance with me.'_ The spirit suggested softly, a flash in his mind's eye he saw the beautiful visage of the spirit once more, extending a hand towards him, hope in her eyes.

He smirked when his feet landed on the ground once again. Hand tightening around the hilt of Sode no Shirayuki's shikai form. 'For as long as you'll let me.' He sent back, crossing the blade back in front of him, blade pointed towards Renji. He darted forward, careful to keep an eye on his opponent, to be able to dodge the segmented blade if it extended towards him once more.

 _Keep your eyes on those of your opponent. Anticipate, don't react._ A simple creed, taught in karate class during his childhood. A rule of thumb that he still found himself forgetting. A person's eyes told you everything about them. They could betray them, flickering to a side they wanted to strike, showing fear or confidence that they felt in spades. Try to keep an eye on their limbs, and you'll never be able to keep up. Keep your eyes on theirs…

'Now!' He told himself, when Renji's eyes narrowed and he set his feet, rearing his arm back to whip Zabimaru forwards once more. "Some no mai: Tsukishiro!" He cried, drawing a circle with the tip of his blade, another slash directed at the redhead.

"Dammit!" The redhead cursed as the ice and snow encased his legs quickly, before he could abort his attack and dodge out of the circle. Ichigo didn't take even a moment to celebrate his apparent victory. 'Who's the other guy, Shira?' He asked, sliding to a stop, blade extended towards Renji in a guard as the redhead was rapidly entombed in ice, despite his struggles.

' _Byakuya Kuchiki. Rukia's adoptive elder brother. He's a noble, and very strict. Law and responsibility mean everything to him. He's fast and precise. His shikai scatters pieces of his Zanpakuto around like flower petals, which he can then control with his mind.'_ Shirayuki answered quickly, finding herself emboldened by Ichigo's faith in her knowledge and opinions. A faith her previous wielder did not hold.

'Do I have a chance?' Ichigo asked, turning his gaze to the man in white once Renji became fully encased.

' _...Probably not, no.'_ Her tone was gentle, but honest.

He set his jaw, eyes warily watching his 'noble' opponent. 'Dammit.' He cursed, shifting into a cautious guard. 'If we fail now, how long would I have to follow them and save Rukia before it's too late?'

' _What?'_ Her surprise was palpable. _'You realize what you're asking, right? You'd be declaring war on all of soul society!'_

'I know.' His resolve was firm, as was his will to protect Rukia for the favor she'd given him of allowing him to protect his family. So too, did his reiatsu ramp up, tied to that emotion, until it was exuding off of him in a gentle flame again. 'She's your friend. Your wielder. And I owe her. She will _not_ die if I have anything to say about it. And I will not give up until I die or until I fail.'

' _LEFT!'_ He didn't hesitate to ask what she meant, like he might have if this had even been a week ago, before the fight with the Menos. No. This time, he just dodged to the left as soon as he heard her, and grunted loudly when the sword pierced him through the chest. _'RIGHT!'_ He heard her scream again, and despite the pain, did his best to follow her direction, feeling another stab through his torso. He almost immediately coughed, feeling something warm and wet fill the back of his throat, as the world began to fade away again.

 _ **-Scene Break-**_

"I'm sorry, Ichigo." He found himself waking up in the snow, and he blinked, looking around. Sode no Shirayuki was kneeling over him, eyes cast down in apology for...well...something.

"Eh. Wasn't your fault." He countered, grunting as he moved his hands behind him to push himself into a sitting position, glancing around at the sideways and snowy cityscape that made up his inner world. "Wasn't you that stabbed me. Thanks for the warnings. What were you trying to do anyway? There was no way I could completely dodge those." He asked, reaching a hand up scratch the back of his head.

The white-haired spirit blinked and looked up at him, mildly shocked. "He was aiming to cut your soul sleep and soul chain. They're the source for spiritual energy and a booster, respectively. If you hadn't moved, you would have either died or had your powers locked away forever."

"Then it's a good thing you warned me, isn't it?" Ichigo chuckled, reaching out to take her cold hand. "Thank you, Shirayuki. For helping me, for warning me, and for dancing with me." He leaned down and kissed the back of her hand, with a smile. Partially wondering what it was about this woman that calmed him so.

Her pale cheeks lit up in a flush of pink, forcing his smile to widen a bit. "Although, I suppose I'm really going to have to learn how to dance if we're going to save Rukia, eh?" He asked, forcing himself to stand and pulling her gently along with him, threading his fingers in through hers when he'd done so.

Shirayuki, on her part, still seemed like she had no idea how to react. Her eyes were wide with awe. She still didn't understand how this boy could hear her, much less call her name. And yet...he was here. Trusting her in a way her wielder hadn't for decades. Dancing with her. Asking her to teach him.

She looked up into soft, caramel eyes and found her mind made up for her in a near instant. Her grey-blues hardened, and she gave a firm nod, tightening her fingers into his.

She knew, from the moment that he called her name, she may never get to go back to Rukia. But...Rukia had shut her out for five decades. Unable to so much as look at the blade of her Shikai without reliving the death of Kaien Shiba. She hadn't called on her. She hadn't danced with her, she hadn't visited her, or even talked to her.

Now, in order to save her wielder, she may have to betray her. To separate herself from Rukia and bind herself to someone else forever.

That choice, hard as it should have been, was almost too easy to make.


	3. Chapter 3 - First Lessons

Clanks of metal clattering against metal rang throughout the mental world, despite the steady flurry of falling snow. Two figures were moving through the snow, the movements of one, controlled and graceful. The other, harsh and unpolished.

"Breathe, Ichigo." The graceful one offered calmly, blocking a swipe from his identical version of her white katana by holding hers vertical against it, and then spinning towards him, going with the blow he'd attempted to strike her with, and swiping casually at his leg while she continued away.

He was still unconscious in the outside world, recovering from the wounds he suffered by the blade of Senbonzakura, but here in inner world, the training had already begun. Sode no Shirayuki deciding that the first course of action would be to calm her carrot-topped wielder down; to turn him from some form of single minded, headstrong brute, and instead get him to…Dance.

It promised to be a tall order of business to change his fighting philosophy, but it seemed to be a much easier way of hitting multiple points he needed to work on at the same time: He thought too much to react properly in a fast paced battle, yet he never stopped to second guess if he was throwing himself into the hands of his enemy.

So first order of business was to clear his mind. Add a sense of style and control to his swordplay. She hoped that, along with that sense of style and grace, he might happen to accidentally develop some semblance of control over his reiatsu.

And it couldn't hurt. So right now, she was just sparring with him, showing her style. Her _dance_. She already noticed that he was picking up some things just by way of observation and imitation. It was just a matter of doing it often enough that the habit stuck.

Still twirling away from him, she smiled to herself as she flipped the sword in her hand to face downwards in an ice pick grip, stabbing the ground four times in the process of a twirl, then lifted the tip of the sword to point at him. "Tsugi no Mai: Hakuren!" She called, an avalanche of ice, snow, and frozen air blasting outwards at him, his eyes widened, and he twirled himself to get out of the way, using his blade to try and slice through the wall of winter before it hit him.

She smiled softly at that, eyes shining in approval. Ducking out of the way would have left him open to a follow up attack, blocking it head on would have left him trapped and trying to regain his bearings. He'd found the medium: get out of the way of the worst of it. Block the rest, and be ready for more.

He smiled widely. Eyes lit up in excitement once the wintery blast faded away. "Trying to teach me another dance?" He asked, seemingly trying to contain his eagerness to learn it.

Her smile widened, a genuine, teeth baring, thousand watt smile that she hadn't felt in decades. The excitement was contagious.

She almost forgot that her original wielder needed saving.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

"Rukia! Why won't you talk to us?" The blonde asked, lower lip jutting out. Upset. It was raining here. Raining. Something that had never happened in Hueco Mundo. And she and her brother both could hear Rukia.

Telling someone to just lie there and live a little while longer.

But she didn't answer THEM at all, and it was killing her! Why? Had Rukia really forgotten about them?

Or could she just not hear them?

"Rukia… you still haven't told us our names…" The girl whimpered, hugging her knees to her, lip trembling while she ducked her head in between her knees. The thin arms of her brother casting themselves around her shoulders and pulling her close.

After so many years, it felt like they were so close to Rukia… and yet as far away as they had ever been.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

When he awoke, Ichigo Kurosaki was in a relatively good mood. Despite losing the fight against Byakuya and Renji, he still had his powers, he had had fun… actual _fun_ dancing and sparring with Shirayuki. He now knew her second dance. Having finally gotten the hang of Hakuren and had time to celebrate it before his inner world began to fade to black, signifying his awakening.

That good mood turned to confusion when he noticed how warm he was, then wide eyed panic when he opened his eyes to find a giant of a man laying on top of him. 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' He screamed mentally. Getting a feminine laugh, as well as a noise of agreement from Shirayuki.

' _Remember, stay calm Ichigo. When you were injured you were out in the rain. He's probably just trying to make sure you stayed warm...Probably. I hope. Not that he needed to.'_ Shirayuki mused, trying to calm her wielder's instant panic.

'Right. I think I'm plenty warm! Wait… what do you mean he didn't need to?'

' _You wield me, Ichigo. I'm an ice-type Zanpakuto. Snow. Ice. Water. Cold in general… It's not going to bother you. As much, anyway.'_

'... Thats fucking awesome.' The carrot top answered with a blink, before he was distracted by dealing with the man now forever known as Hat 'n' Clogs.

' _Glad you think so. You should pay attention.'_ Shirayuki chided gently, though it was obvious she enjoyed talking to him.

'You're far more interesting to talk with than this weirdo.' Ichigo scoffed, putting all his power into trying to shove the giant on top of him away.

Somewhere in his mental world, one particular pale Zanpakuto spirit was flushing a healthy pink.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

'Remind me again why I even bothered coming to school?' Ichigo asked, trying not to fall to the temptation of going to his inner world to get some training in with Shirayuki. 'We have ten days to train and then about two weeks once we get to soul society to find Rukia. And that's provided soul society follows protocol and doesn't move up the execution as soon as they realize I'm there.'

' _You_ really _don't want to be here, do you?'_ Shirayuki asked dryly, leading the carrot-top to scowl. Glad that at least they were in a lesson at the moment and he didn't have to listen to 'Keigo the moron'. It was bad enough that everyone seemed to have forgotten about Rukia, but the fact that Shirayuki was still there in his head was proof enough to him that he hadn't just imagined the last two months.

'What gave you that idea? Can't you see how excited I am?' He shot back sarcastically.

' _If you're not going to listen to the lesson anyway, I suppose you can come in here and I'll give you a headstart on training for whatever Urahara is going to put you through.'_ Shirayuki offered, and before she even finished talking, Ichigo had already closed his eyes and dove for the sound of her voice. A swan dive into his mental world.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing on a building across from Shirayuki, watching the pale woman humming to herself while she danced on the window, a light dusting of snow under her feet and blowing around her, as if the movement of her body controlled the direction and speed of the winds. It probably did.

He was opening his mouth to shout out a greeting to her, when a large hand clasped down on his shoulder.

He froze, and slowly looked back, following the arm, clad in a darkened sleeve, up to a gruff, middle aged man with orange sunglasses, giving him a calm look. "Who are you?" Ichigo whispered.

A shake of the head answered him. "You would not hear my name, even if I spoke it to you." There was a pause, and then the old man let his shoulder go. "But you need to understand that you are more than just a shinigami, Ichigo. Before you go to train… you may want to go through your mother's things… I believe there may be something that will be of use to you among them."

"My...mother?" Ichigo asked, furrowing his brow in confusion, but before he could open his mouth to ask further, the old man disappeared, much the same way Byakuya had in doing… Whatever he had, when he'd stabbed the carrot-top… leaving Ichigo standing alone in the snow.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Cross

"What am I even looking for, old man?" Ichigo muttered, up in the attic of his family home and ruffling through the chest that held all of his mother's belongings that weren't part of the shrine devoted to her downstairs. Trying to ask Shirayuki about who the old man in his head was, had lead to more questions than answers.

' _He's not a Zanpakuto. But he's...something. He probably would have become a Zanpakuto if you'd needed him to be. But I feel like he's a different side of your soul altogether.'_

Right. Different side of his soul. Voices in his head, seeing things that weren't there. No cause for concern at all, right? He scowled further as he tried to push aside dresses and jewelry to find anything that looked like it stood out to him. This was maddening. As if Hat 'n' Clogs on his own wasn't bad enough…

The carrot-top paused when his fingers batted against a box on the bottom of the chest. He paused, blinking in curiosity, his scowl fading away. 'Is this it?' He wondered, curling his fingers around the plain, undecorated box, and pulling it up out of the mess of things his mother had owned.

He quickly put it on the floor and lifted the lid off of the box, eager to return to the search if this wasn't what he was searching for...and froze as soon as he caught sight of the items within.

A white and blue glove that would go up to around the elbow, that he'd never seen before.

And a charm bracelet he certainly had; a thin chain around a cross.

A quincy cross, identical to the one Uryuu Ishida wore and generated that bow with.

"...What?" He asked, recoiling back from the box, scrambling away from them as if the glove inside had physically struck him and then retreated back into the cushioned confines of the box.

' _...Your mom was a Quincy?'_ Shirayuki questioned, sounding both curious, and as shocked as he was.

'My mom was a Quincy?!' He repeated almost immediately afterwards, less curiosity involved in his thought than had been present in hers, and far, far more shock.

'Indeed, Ichigo.' The voice of the old man whispered to him. 'And so are you.'

' _Oh...So that's who you are. You're his Quincy powers, aren't you?'_ Shirayuki mused.

'I have _so_ many questions right now, but screw it. We need to get to Hat 'n' Clogs'.' Ichigo muttered, grabbing the glove and the charm bracelet out of the box and stuffing them in his schoolbag, quickly returning the box to the chest, shutting the chest, and taking off for the Urahara Shoten.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

"You don't have to yell. I'm pretty damn surprised." Ichigo answered flatly, staring through a scowl at one Kisuke Urahara. 'I'm going to be learning from this idiot?' He joked to Shirayuki and the Old Man in his head.

' _Apparently. I still have to teach you my third dance, and apparently your Quincy side has some things to teach you as well.'_ Shirayuki informed, reminding Ichigo of the cross bracelet currently dangling around his left wrist.

'Right...Busy week ahead, eh?' Ichigo mused. "Let's just get this lesson started."

"Alright, as you wish!" Was the carrot-tops only warning before he was smacked in the forehead by the end of Urahara's cane.

"Pretty hard to breathe...huh?" Urahara blinked, stopping his question when he noticed Ichigo standing there, arms crossed and scowling at him once more, in full shihakusho, with Sode no Shirayuki in Shikai form, sheathed on his left hip. "Well...that was unexpected."

"Eh?"

"I had thought we'd have to restore your spiritual power, and then restore your Shinigami powers. Apparently not. I suppose we can go straight to Lesson Three then!" Urahara grinned, covering his face with his fan. "This lesson has no time limit! Use your Zanpakuto and knock off my hat!"

'Perfect. Ichigo, try to use Sode no Shirayuki one handed, and form a spirit weapon in your left. This provides ample opportunity for you to practice.' The Old Man mused, and Ichigo descended into a smirk. Using just his right hand to draw Shirayuki out, holding her horizontal out to his right, blade pointed behind him, and then flexing his left hand.

'How exactly do I form a spirit weapon?' Ichigo asked, lowering into a crouch to prepare for what was sure to be a long duel ahead.

'Focus on the reishi in the air, draw it yours, and compact it into whatever you wish in your hand. Shirayuki's training should help you with this. You have three days to figure out how to form the weapon, and once that is done, you will put on the glove and fight to keep it active for a week.' The weathered voice declared, and Ichigo smirked. "Hey Hat 'n' Clogs. You're wrong. This does have a time limit."

"Eh?"

"It needs to last at least a week. I could use the endurance training, ne?" Ichigo smirked, finding Urahara's mild surprise, and Shirayuki's approval, at his patience and willingness not to just rush at Urahara now and finish it in five minutes.

"Now…Let's dance." With that, he leapt at the shopkeeper, all the while trying to follow Shirayuki's teaching; let his body do the fighting, the dance, on it's own. Let his mind hunt for stray reishi and draw it to him to form a usable object.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Rukia woke up, lying on cold stone, and groggily took a moment to try and figure out where she was. 'What the...where am I?' She wondered, furrowing her brow as she tried to remember. Last she remembered, she was sitting in the sixth division holding cells, with her brother informing her she was to be executed and transferred.

Her eyes widened when she realized where she was. Though the mountainous terrain and cold grey stone looked much different without the familiar snow and the presence of one pale, off-white haired woman dancing. "Wait...I remember now. This is my mental world." She gasped, looking around at the place she hadn't visited in fifty plus years.

The place she'd refused to go ever since she'd had to kill Kaien-dono.

A noise behind her caused her to whirl around, looking for whoever, or whatever, would be in her mental world with her. And her eyes caught the barest glimpse of a spiky haired blonde girl with reddish-violet roots, diving at her happily and a tall, stoic man with a scythe standing from where the girl had apparently launched herself at Rukia.

"Rukia!" The girl cried happily, and the next thing the rabbit loving Shinigami knew, she was tackled to the cold, hard stone beneath.

"Oi! What is your problem!? Who are you?!" She questioned, immediately going on the defensive, putting her hand in the blonde's hair and trying to shove the girl away...before she realized the girl was sobbing.

Instantly, for whatever reason, she felt bad for yelling at the girl, although she was still confused. "Who are you people?" She asked, looking up at the man that approached her, laying the ridiculously large scythe against a rock.

"Sister, she's never going to recognize you...if she can't see your face." He offered calmly, kneeling behind the girl who was sniffling and wiping at her eyes, trying to clear them away. Obviously, his sister.

"Yeah...I know…" The girl sniffled once more, before looking up at Rukia, bright green eyes catching all of Rukia's attention. They seemed so...familiar. But she just couldn't place them.

"Look at me, Rukia...do you remember me now?"


	5. Chapter 5 - Hats Off, Take A Bow

"What is this place?" The blonde girl asked. It had been a period of awkward silence after it became apparent that, no, Rukia did not remember them. But nor was Rukia pushing her...them...away. So that was a start.

"It's my inner world." Rukia mused, hugging her knees as she sat down with her back against a rock. "It's...different, than it usually is though. Not that I guess I would know, I haven't been here in years…"

"Your inner world?" The girl blinked, a momentary lapse of awe and confusion covering her face, then swept away in a torrent of delight. "I'm so happy to see you again!" She declared, hugging herself and sitting down next to Rukia, although the girl obviously really wanted to launch herself at Rukia again.

"I feel like I know the two of you." The midget offered weakly, looking up at the overcast sky. A clear sign of her depression, her guilt over ruining Ichigo's life, and the impending end of her own. "But I have no clear memory of how or why. And I can't remember your names."

"That's because we don't have any." The girl admitted, closing her eyes and standing up to go over to her brother, who was leaning silently against another rock, about eight feet away.

"Nani?"

"Not yet, anyway...you promised to give us names."

Violet eyes widened again at that. A memory rushing back to her of a pair of kids...chibi versions of the pair before her, running into the shed, soaked to the bone from the rain. Of the pair dancing in joy at her offer to name them, and then hugging her like they never wanted to let her go.

But obviously, something had happened. How could she forget two people who were obviously so close to her at one point in time?

"I...I remember…" Rukia whispered, but following that vision, despite the sounds of joy and delight from the girl and a happy sort of grunt from her brother, was a wave of pain and agony that filled her head, causing her to clutch at it. The pair of spirits rushing over in concern.

But she was already gone, fading out of her inner world and back to consciousness.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Ichigo held Shirayuki up with one hand, blade pointed towards the ground, to block a vicious strike from Urahara and his Zanpakuto, Benihime. As had started to become second nature, from Shirayuki's previous training in his inner world and her whispers to him now, he immediately spun as soon as the blades clashed together, holding Benihime back while he whirled to his right, out of danger. His eyes widened when they caught sight of Hat'n'clogs' side, now unprotected, and, almost on instinct, he lashed out with his left hand.

"GAH!" Urahara cried out, suddenly tumbling to his knees as his hamstring was sliced open, and Ichigo whirled back around to his left, keeping Benihime pinned in place with Shirayuki, he threw his left hand forward at the damned green and white striped hat, the next thing he knew, the top half of the hat was flying away with multiple strands of blonde hair, caught in the breeze created by the storm of spirit energy surrounding the pair, and the bottom half fell around Urahara's neck like a collar.

And there, in his left hand, was a fizzling, unstable rod of pure blue reiatsu, shaped like a tanto.

His eyes widened. He'd done it. Almost instinctively, now knowing that the shape was there, Ichigo drew more of the surrounding reishi in the atmosphere into the outline of the dagger, pouring some of his own power in there, willing it to stabilize. And it did, the fizzling slowing down until it stopped. Solidifying there in his hand. He experimented a bit, trying to gauge how much will, how much focus...how much _power_ he needed to feed to the blade to keep it a stable size and shape, and once he found a reasonable level, he looked up to Hat'n'clogs.

The mad genius of a shopkeeper looked at once pained, surprised, and absolutely fascinated. "That's...a neat trick you have there, Kurosaki-san. That wouldn't happen to be a Quincy Cross there on your wrist, would it?"

Ichigo snorted, and relaxed, dispelling the dagger bag into the air and extending his left hand to instead help the shopkeeper back to his feet. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You're killing me, Hat'n'clogs. I said it needed to last a week. You only lasted two days!" He scoffed, shoving the blonde, who rubbed the shoulder he'd shoved almost immediately afterwards. "Well, excuse me, Kurosaki-san. I wasn't aware you had a trick like that up your sleeve."

Ichigo was paying attention, but was testing out his new ability in the meantime, ensuring that he could still form the Tanto in his left hand at will. 'Good work, Ichigo. You can form the dagger. Now you must put on the glove. It will make it harder to form the weapon, but if you can keep it active for a week, while focusing on surviving in battle, then you will be ready to go save your friend.'

He smirked again, and turned to Urahara. "Well, Hat'n'clogs...You got another hat for me to destroy?" He asked, bouncing on his feet again. 'I did it! Shirayuki, maybe we can actually do this! Maybe we can save Rukia!'

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

In his inner world, Sode no Shirayuki was standing next to the Old Man, hands tucked into the sleeves of her Kimono. She frowned slightly, looking down at the ground. Saving Rukia...shouldn't she be more excited about the prospect for saving her original wielder? Of going back to, what should be, anyway...her true home?

Instead, that prospect was making her somewhat...sad.

Sure, Rukia was her first wielder, and her first home. And by all rights and knowledge held by Soul Society, should have been her ONLY wielder and ONLY home. But for fifty years, Rukia had avoided her. Whether it was from the pain of seeing Kaien's death every time she looked at the blade of Shirayuki's shikai, or the guilt that she was allowing to eat her alive, or just the unwillingness to let anyone else, even her own Zanpakuto, help her to deal with her pain...It didn't really matter. Shirayuki had been alone for longer than this boy had been alive.

And then he comes along, and whisks her world out from underneath her in one night. Trusting her and believing in her in a way that she hadn't felt...Well...ever, really. Rukia had never been this...excited to learn from her. Never been this open to her advice. Never been willing to ignore the world around her just to talk to Shirayuki instead.

"You were right." The man next to her noted, catching her attention and causing her to turn to him, head tilted a bare few millimeters to the right in curiosity. "I am not a Zanpakuto. Although I would have become one, had he needed me to. Since you are here...he does not." He was staring off into the sun, distant, but with it's light reflecting off of the snow that coated the windows beneath them, the Old Man was happier than ever that he had his sunglasses. "There is one other, in here. Although I am not sure where. It has been...many years, since I saw him last. We should be cautious."


	6. Chapter 6 - Battle Royale

Ichigo spun, drawing a circle on the ground around him with Sode no Shirayuki. "Some no Mai: Tsukishiro!" He called, then ducked and rolled, just as Jinta and Ururu launched themselves at him, Ururu aiming a punch high, Jinta aiming a kick low. The ground erupted in a pillar of ice, catching both of the kids inside, while Ichigo slid to a halt a few feet outside of the circle. His black shihakusho was tattered and stained from small cuts, tears, and dirt collected over multiple days of fighting. In his right hand; Shirayuki, white blade shining against the light. In his left; a shining blue tanto of light, held in an icepick grip, gripped with a blue and white leather glove that extended up into the sleeve of his robes.

"Hado #31: Shakkaho!" A gruff voice called from his right. "Shit." Ichigo cursed, whirling to face the oncoming fire blast and rolling out of the way, using Shirayuki in front of him, and gathering moisture in the air...he'd found that figuring out how to form his Spirit Tanto had the side effect of helping him learn that Shirayuki gave him some cryokinetic abilities….to form a quick wall of ice between him and the kido spell threatening to scorch him. He had just enough time before the wall shattered under the pressure to move out of the way, and begin to stab the ground in front of him four times in quick succession, while he was still shrouded in the mist created by the shattered and boiled ice wall. "Tsugi no Mai: Hakuren!"

An avalanche of ice and snow burst from the tip of Sode no Shirayuki, rushing out to get to Tessai, the polar opposite of the attack the kido master had just used on Ichigo.

The carrot-top didn't have time to see if the second dance had hit Tessai, as instinct quickly had him continuing his twirl to catch the sharpened edge of Benihime against that of Shirayuki. Another twirl, had him attempting to stab Urahara in the back with his tanto, before Urahara intentionally lunged away, overextending himself in order to dodge the attack.

Ichigo would have been able to follow him and press his attack, except at that moment, the pillar of ice in the middle of the training area shattered, and Jinta immediately leapt at him with a furious roar of wounded pride, signalling that the two kids were back in the fight.

The duel between the strawberry and hat'n'clogs had quickly turned into a Battle Royale when it became obvious that, as formidable opponent as he was, Urahara just wasn't quite enough to make holding on to the spirit weapon a true challenge. Plus, the constant threat provided by four opponents was rapidly developing Ichigo's speed and agility, training him to fight with two blades as if it were natural, sense his opponents by their reiatsu, even if it was just as a sort of sixth sense warning that he was about to be attacked from behind, and drilling the more graceful and instinctive style of dance-fighting that Shirayuki had been teaching him into habit.

"Goddammit, just stay away!" Ichigo scowled, focusing the reishi around him into the blade of his tanto, and swinging it forward as he tried to roll under Jinta's kick. The swing from the tanto came nowhere close to Jinta's body, but it hadn't meant to. About halfway through the swing, the carrot-top released the reishi, letting the blade throw it forward like a rock out of a slingshot. And a bolt of blue energy slammed into the redhead and sent him flying backwards into Ururu, who was still hanging back and trying to find an actual opening to attack him once again.

'A hellig pfeil, even though your weapon is not a bow. Most impressive, Ichigo.' The Old Man mused in his head, giving mild praise.

Ichigo didn't have the time to thank him, forced into another forward roll and then a leap into the air to avoid a blast of lightning scorching the ground...floor...whatever you wanted to call it, behind him. 'Just keep moving, just keep moving, just keep…' "Scream, Benihime." '...shit.' Ichigo growled, and focused reishi below him. 'Hope this works…' He muttered, pushing off with his foot on the small platform of spirit energy he was trying to make, enabling to change his somersault mid-air into a backflip, a red energy blast singing the front of his Shihakusho.

In doing this, the tanto in his left hand began to waver, but Ichigo quickly poured more energy into it to keep it alive. Finding it hard to do, considering the purpose of the glove was to make it difficult to hold onto the weapon. And that he had four opponents vying for his attention.

He formed another platform under his feet and darted to the left, avoiding another energy blast from Benihime. And then another, and another.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Kisuke Urahara couldn't really help but be fascinated by the boy he was throwing energy blasts at. To come to train with him, he'd expected to have to struggle just to get the boy his shinigami powers back and the ability to halfway competently fight in order to pick up the rest of the skills he needed once he got to Soul Society.

Instead, he'd found that the kid still had his powers from before, apparently having followed a 'warning' to dodge the strikes he never would have seen coming. Just enough to save his powers from being lost.

That alone had saved three days of training out of the ten day schedule he'd planned. And then by whipping out the surprise that he'd discovered the Quincy powers surely inherited from his mother, He'd accomplished the rest of what Urahara had planned for the next seven days, in a mere two.

And now, for the last six days, it had been all of the employees of the Urahara Shoten against Ichigo in a battle royale to build endurance...and somehow, despite all the attacks being thrown at him...or perhaps because of them...and despite having to try and focus to hold that weapon in his left hand, Ichigo's fighting style was being forged and refined through fire into something more...instinctual. He'd suddenly figured out how to do spirit arrows _and_ Hirenkyaku within a minute of each other.

The carrot-topped boy still _sucked_ at hiding his spiritual pressure...It leaked out of him like a sinking ship. But at least for now he'd managed to learn how to shove massive amounts of it wherever he needed it, be that as his spirit weapon, a spirit arrow, or the Hirenkyaku platforms he was currently using to dodge Benihime's screams.

At this rate, the ex-Taichou had no doubt that, at the end of this Sanrei glove endurance training...Ichigo would be able to fight toe to toe with any Captain-level Shinigami in soul society when he got there.

'Let's just hope he doesn't have to face more than one at a time…'

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Somewhere, deep within Ichigo's mental world, in a dark room hidden away in one of the many sideways skyscrapers, a figure chained to a wall began to stir. Deep in the shadows, the features of the figure were hard to make out. But even with no light to speak of, the pale tone of flesh stood out.

He could smell it. The power of the Quincy. Taunting him. _Inviting_ him. Like a mouth-watering juicy steak, sizzling on a grill...Soon. Soon he would awake from his long sleep, and he would take that invitation.

But for now, he could stay here and dream.

Dream of one day being the King.

Maniacal laughter escaped the figure, even in his sleep, while he dreamt of the things he would do once he had the throne.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

'Time.' The Old Man announced, and Ichigo paused, his sword a hairs breadth away from poking the ground for a fourth time, and starting Shirayuki's second dance. 'Congratulations, Ichigo. I believe you have earned my name...if you can hear it.'

Ichigo looked down at the Tanto in his left hand, still a bright blue light, but the light was slowly fading away, to reveal a black coated blade with a silver edge to it underneath the light. His spirit weapon solidifying into a real, tangible tanto. 'My name is…'"Zangetsu." He whispered, flexing his fingers around the grip of the knife experimentally.

' _Not a Zanpakuto, huh?'_ Shirayuki wondered lightly.

'You are ready.'


	7. Chapter 7 - Waltzing To The Gates

'...You've gotta be kidding me.' Ichigo groaned mentally when Orihime, Chad, and Uryu appeared behind him, apparently planning to accompany him to Soul Society. 'Chad, sure. But Uryu is going to make this some sort of damned competition and Orihime couldn't hurt a fly.'

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime greeted brightly, waving at him. Causing a sweatdrop to appear on the back of Ichigo's head. 'I rest my case. Does she think this is a vacation?!' "We were training under Yoruichi-san so we could help you!"

"...Yoruichi?"

"That would be me."

Caramel colored eyes blinked once, then twice. And the carrot top slowly peered his head downwards to look at the source of the voice; a black cat, with golden eyes, licking it's paw. He a blinked a third time, and then slowly turned to stare at Urahara over his shoulder.

"Why am I not surprised there's a talking cat involved with you, Hat'n'clogs?" He asked blankly.

 _Thud._

'Bets on who that was?' He asked lightly to his inner world.

' _Ishida.'_ 'Ishida.' Both Shirayuki and Zangetsu replied with little hesitation, slightly surprising Ichigo.

' _Chad wasn't phased by a steel beam falling on him. And Orihime is too clueless to care.'_

'Touche.'

The shopkeeper, in the meantime, was just hiding a manic grin behind that damnable wooden fan of his. Ichigo shook his head, and rolled his eyes, then returned his attention back to his friends and classmate...Uryu didn't exactly count as a friend, in any case.

Indeed, the Quincy was dusting off his...rather elaborate clothing, in Ichigo's opinion, looking rather disgruntled that Ichigo had handled the revelation of a talking cat better than he had. When he lifted his hand to push his glasses up further, into the proper place on his face, Ichigo's eyes widened slightly when he recognized the glove the kid was wearing.

Ichigo subtly shifted his arm, causing the sleeves of his shihakusho to fall over his own Sanrei glove. Not exactly keen on letting Uryu see it and start up...something.

Provided the Quincy could get over himself for 30 seconds to even bother noticing the glove and recognizing it as a Sanrei glove, that is.

'Guess he really was doing some training.' Ichigo mused dryly.

He was about as ready for the trip to Soul Society as he was going to get. He'd already left his body, now probably lying somewhere in the backroom of the Urahara Shoten, taken away by Jinta and Ururu as soon as he'd arrived.

He sighed and brought a hand up to rub his forehead. "I suppose I could use all the help I can get, seeing as I'm about to declare war on the afterlife." He spoke. And soon enough, Chad and Uryu had moved past him and into the shop, following the directions of Hat'n'clogs.

Those two could handle themselves, that much he knew. But…"Orihime." He called right as she passed him. "Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into?"

The answer he received wasn't entirely confidence-inspiring.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

"Four minutes. Got it." Ichigo confirmed Urahara's warning, then rolled his eyes at the continued explanations and warnings from Yoruichi that he knew was probably more for the benefit of those following him than it was for him. He mentally tuned out for a moment, and instead started to wonder what he would find on the other side. 'Shira, will you be able to help me navigate Soul Society when I get there?'

' _I should be able to. Rukia was at least familiar with the general layout. Though she only knew the specifics behind the Kuchiki manor, the 13th division barracks, and the 6th division barracks.'_ His borrowed Zanpakuto offered an affirmation.

"You understand, kid, that if you fail, you can never return to this life again, right?" He was pulled from his thoughts by a pointed stare from the cat and an equally loaded question.

"What life?" Ichigo asked simply. "That life got thrown out the window the moment Rukia stepped into it." There was a mental image...a visual metaphor, of a picture of his bedroom being crumpled up into a ball and thrown out the window, just as Rukia stepped in through the same window.

That image led to a snort on his part. "Besides...I don't plan on failing."

He lost the cat's reply when the Senkaimon flashed bright blue, signifying it was about to open. Ichigo didn't really spare a look behind him to find the trio of companions. As soon as the light brightened, he bounded forward.

'We're coming, Rukia.'

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

'Ow.' Ichigo groaned. 'Shut up, Orihime…' He begged, even before she really got up and started complimenting him on the way he'd landed, leading him to scowl.

His scowl deepened further when Uryu pulled a spare cape out of his jacket.

'You've _got_ to be fucking kidding me, Ishida…' He muttered in his head, but spent the time that Yoruichi took chastising Orihime for using her shield and then explaining where they were, to inspect his surroundings.

'Where the hell is everyone?' He mused, glancing around, noting the difference between the decidedly lower-middle-class area he was standing in, and the bright and shiny gates and tile off to the side.

"I'm going to guess that's where we need to go." He spoke aloud, looking behind him to the cat. "And it's not going to be so easy as to just walk over there."

' _You picked up patience rather quickly, Ichigo.'_ Shirayuki praised, confirming both guesses.

'I had a hell of a teacher. Still want to run over there. Just know it's probably a bad idea.' He complimented back casually.

"Correct." Yoruichi dragged him back out of his mental dialogue. "There is a wall that will drop when you get close, and a gatekeeper we would have to defeat in order to get in. His name is Jidanbo, and no one has defeated him and breached the gate in over 300 years."

'Wonderful.' "And there's no other way in?"

"Well...if this doesn't work, there might be another option." Yoruichi offered with as close to a shrug as a cat could get.

"...Alright then, fight the gatekeeper it is. I'll handle him. You guys stay back just in case." Ichigo offered, reaching for Shirayuki and drawing her with his right hand as he approached the Seireitei.

"Are you nuts?!" Ishida questioned, rather loudly, after him. "We need to take him all at once and move on quickly!"

"Uryu, Urahara thought I'd lost my spiritual power and thought it would take a full ten days to restore it. Turns out I still had it. So what do you think I've been doing all this time?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at his fellow Quincy.

"...Huh?"

"Fighting. I've been fighting for ten days straight. Against Hat'n'clogs at first, and then him, Tessai, and the two kids all at once. I can handle a gatekeeper. And if I can't, then we have no business being here trying to save Rukia to begin with."

With that, he walked away to face Jidanbo. 'Something tells me this guy is going to be easier than what we find waiting on the other side of the gate…' He mused, when he got close enough to the Seireitei, sections of wall fell from nowhere and slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Ichigo hummed to himself in thought, as he heard laughing falling out of nowhere, much like the walls had, and while the dust settled, he took the time to casually poke four holes in the ground with Sode no Shirayuki's tip, and then waited, pouring his spiritual power into the blade.

Shirayuki shuddered with the power, having never felt as much of a rush as she did right now. For the last ten days he had been working on his spiritual control...which wasn't to say it was good. It was still much like a leaking faucet with no real 'off' setting. But even a leaking faucet could fill a cup. And now, he had time to focus and pour ALL of that into her, rather than being distracted trying to keep his tanto - which he'd come to see as the physical manifestation of Zangetsu - alive in his hand, while trying to dodge attacks and use her dances all at the same time.

"Welcome, kid!" The giant greeted with a smile, and then reared back, eyes lit with delight and excitement over his first battle in what was probably years. And then the gigantic, glinting axe in the man's right hand came hurtling down like the fist of an angry god.

Ichigo lifted his blade up to meet the oncoming hack. "Tsugi no mai; Hakuren." he finally whispered, drowned out by Jidanbo's roar.

The collision of metal on metal resounded with a _loud_ clang. An eruption of dust and crushed rock blasting out from underneath Jidanbo's gigantic axe, and an eruption of ice and snow blasting out from above it.

Uryu, Chad, and Orihime could do little except lift their arms to cover their faces - and in Orihime's case, cradle Yoruichi close to her - against the instant blizzard they found themselves in.

Silence reigned, quiet enough that, were it not for the settling dust and snow, you could hear a pin drop as everyone waited to see the results of the first strike.


	8. Chapter 8 - Trotting With A Fox

When the dust and snow finally cleared enough to see the two figures standing in front of the gate, Uryu, Orihime, and Chad found themselves staring an awestruck Jidanbo first, holding on to the grip of what used to be his Axe; now nothing but air extended from the end of the wrapped grip. It took a few more seconds for more of the dust to fade away, to see Ichigo calmly standing there, with Sode no Shirayuki held above his head.

"You...you broke my axe…" Jidanbo whispered in shock, looking down at the shattered pieces of the axe-head, covered in frost and lying in fragments around Ichigo's feet.

'You alright, Shira?' Ichigo asked, regarding Jidanbo calmly, wondering what the gatekeeper would do now without a weapon. The gatekeeper himself didn't seem to know what to do. He had a second axe, of course. But considering this kid had so effortlessly broken the first one...what good would the second do him?

' _That...was amazing. I have never felt that strong before.'_

'Er…'

' _Yes...yes, I'm fine.'_ The blade shuddered in his hand again, causing him to glance down at it with a raised eyebrow to make sure it wasn't his hand that was shaking. _'More than fine.'_

'Good to hear.'

"In three hundred years…" Jidanbo breathed, backpedaling away from the carrot-topped Ryoka, eyes still wide. "Only three people had ever stopped my first thrust. But you...you destroyed it…You destroyed my axe…"

Ichigo arched an eyebrow, noting that the giant was trembling.

"Uh...yeah, sorry about that." He offered weakly. "I guess my Zanpakuto has more power than I thought." 'Not to mention he gave me like a full minute to charge you while I waited on him to show up and make his move…'

"I...I will open the gate for you." The still-shell-shocked gatekeeper announced, then turned around and crouched to wedge his fingers under the gate. Leaving Ichigo now the one with wide eyes and an incredulous expression. '...It can't be that easy.'

It wasn't.

Ichigo stepped forward all the while that Jidanbo spent lifting the gate, while the rest of his companions just looked on in awe at the fact that the gate could be lifted. Coming up to Jidanbo's side, he felt it, more than saw it, when the giant froze when the gate was open.

He didn't need to ask why.

In front of them, stood a man in shihakusho, covered by a white haori, looking at them with a sort of sick amusement and fake cheer that made Ichigo feel like the man considered them mere toys to play with.

He felt Shirayuki shudder in his head in distaste, and he tightened his hand around her hilt. Her reaction more than enough to confirm to him that this man was not their friend. 'Shira?' He asked, wasting no more time; instead, gathering reishi under his feet...so amazingly easy now that he was in Soul Society, where everything was made of the stuff...and launched himself forward at a blisteringly fast pace to confront the man.

' _Gin Ichimaru. Captain of the Third Division. Rukia always got a creepy feeling whenever he was around. She likened it to a snake slithering around her neck and choking her.'_

'Apt metaphor.' Ichigo agreed, as his blade clashed against Gin's, he held Shirayuki in both hands now, deigning to save the use of Zangetsu for a situation in which it could work in his favor as a surprise. To his own surprise, however, Gin seemed to ignore him. Spinning around in much the same sort of deadly dance that Shirayuki had taught him, and aiming the tip of his sword instead...at Jidanbo. "Shoot to kill, Shinso." Ichigo's eyes widened as the blade then...extended. Rocketing out in length and slamming into Jidanbo's arm, sending the giant flying back into Rukongai, before any of Ichigo's companions could follow him into the Seireitei.

'Divide and conquer.' He guessed, sending a quick wish towards the five people on the other side of the gate...honestly, Jidanbo had done nothing to deserve that, at least not in his opinion. But he couldn't afford to think about that right at this particular moment.

'Hey, Shira?' He asked as he focused on Gin's narrowed-to-a-slit eyes and wide smile.

' _What, Ichigo?'_

'Feel like trotting on a fox?' He joked, spinning and drawing a circle on the ground around him and Gin with the tip of Shirayuki's blade.

' _...I see where you were going with it, but that was the worst joke I've ever heard.'_

'Aw…' "Some no Mai: Tsukishiro!"

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Rukia Kuchiki felt like an outsider looking in.

At least, that was the easiest way to put it. Sitting here, curled up in the windowsill of the Senzaikyu, looking out over the sprawling buildings that made up the Seireitei and the Rukongai beyond. Looking out at her former home, but now those who sentenced her to death for her actions.

Perhaps it was fate. She'd given her powers to Ichigo, and in doing so, ruined his life. She'd killed Kaien. She'd shut her own Zanpakuto out of her life to the point that the Zanpakuto had readily accepted a new wielder.

So surreal were her thoughts, that she was simultaneously sitting in the windowsill of the Senzaikyu, and sitting in the same pose against a rock in her mountainous wasteland of a mental world. Now devoid of the snow and ice that had once made it a beautiful place.

She breathed in and sighed out in a depressed moment, allowing the guilt of all three of those actions to wash over her, as well as the shadow of her impending execution.

"Rukia!" A voice called out, and she started, being dragged fully into her inner world by the voice, she looked over her shoulder, and found that blonde girl that had shown up with her brother standing behind her, hands up to her chin, a blanket in hand, and looking rather hesitant to interrupt. Probably afraid of upsetting Rukia. "Can I join you?"

Rukia couldn't help but smile at the spirit that so obviously adored her, a sad smile as it was, but a smile nonetheless. She ducked her head at the girl, and appeased her request. "Sure." She agreed, and the girl excitedly bounded down to sit next to her in a pose reminiscent of a gargoyle.

"Is something wrong?" The girl asked softly, tilting her head and fixing Rukia with her wide green eyes. She'd failed to remember her names, although she'd remembered the two spirits themselves, and that she'd _had_ names for them. Just not...what those names were.

"A lot of things, actually…" Rukia admitted with a sigh, hugging her legs again. "It's odd. I haven't been here in so long, and everything looks completely different now. I don't know who I am anymore. This is my inner world, but my Zanpakuto is gone. I shut her out and then she left me for a human, whose life I ruined. Now I'm about to die and I'm wondering if I've lived at all for the last fifty years, or if I've just been pretending to."

"Rukia…" The girl whispered, and then suddenly ducked to lay herself on Rukia's shoulder. She turned once again to glance at the girl, and felt something akin to tears sting at the back of her eyes, though she refused to let them form and fall. "The two of you have waited...waited for me for all these years. Waited for the names I said I would give you. Yet somehow I completely forgot about you and your brother, and that's just as bad as the rest of it, because obviously you were important to me and I was very important to you. And now, somehow you're...here. In my inner world. Though I have no idea how that's even possible."

The girl looked up, meeting Rukia's eyes finally. It was apparent in the wide green eyes that she didn't have nearly the control of her tear ducts that Rukia did, and it ripped at Rukia's heart. "I swear. I will give you those names. I promise."

"Thank you…"

Rukia reached out, and tugged the girl to her in a proper hug...but was yanked out of her inner world suddenly by an explosion of reiatsu that sent her eyes wide. She could feel it, even through the sekkiseki walls of the tower. "Ichigo?" She asked no one, looking back out the window.


	9. Chapter 9 - Intermission

Ichigo sped away on wings of reishi… or, more accurately, leapt off of platforms of it at a speed that would be considered blistering to any normal human being. A title he obviously did not hold.

Despite the joke he'd made to Shirayuki, the fight against Gin Ichimaru had been quite anticlimactic. Mostly because Ichigo had no desire to waste time and risk injury - and therefore further vulnerability - by prolonging a fight he didn't need to even have.

With that in mind, and being unsure if he could legitimately outrun Gin on his own, Ichigo had clashed swords with the smug bastard just long enough to get the man trapped in Shirayuki's first dance, before bolting away with the help of Hirenkyaku.

He held no illusions that the Tsukishiro had killed Ichimaru. Nor did he wish it had. He'd come here to stop Rukia's execution. No more, no less. He had no desire to kill anyone.

Although he wouldn't mind knocking some sense into one Byakuya Kuchiki. Brothers were supposed to protect their younger siblings, not hang them out to dry!

Ichigo dropped to the ground in an alleyway and ducked into a warehouse, vaguely aware of where he was by the constant directions from Shirayuki. According to her, if Rukia was indeed sentenced to death, she would be held in the tower off in the center of the Seireitei - The Senzaikyu - which stood next to a large cliff - Which was for some unholy reason, labelled a hill. The damn thing was far closer to being a mountain in his opinion.

If she wasn't in the Senzaikyu, then she was probably in the sixth division holding cells, as Byakuya and Renji had been her captors. If that were the case, then she had most likely gotten a lesser sentence, or Ichigo had more time than he thought. Either way, the Senzaikyu was his first target.

'Alright. Breathing room… For now, anyway.' Ichigo sighed, slumping back against the wall next to the door once he'd made sure the storehouse was devoid of any other life besides himself. 'Shira, who all do I need to watch out for? I'm guessing everyone wearing white like that guy.' He queried her.

It was quickly becoming a routine. Anything he saw in the soul society that he didn't quite understand and felt would benefit him to know, he asked the Zanpakuto spirit.

' _For the most part, yes.'_ She answered. On her part, the chilly ice spirit was more than happy to provide him the information she knew. It had been decades since Rukia had talked to her even half as much as Ichigo was right now… and even then, Rukia had treated her like an _it_. Not a _her._

So he sat and listened intently while Shirayuki went into a brief description of each of the division heads. For the most, focusing only on the Captains. Surprisingly, he learned that Rukia's Captain… Jushiro Ukitake… may actually be sympathetic to his cause. And perhaps, if Ichigo could get to him, he might then be able to get to Kyoraku of the eighth.

Of the rest, Ichimaru, Unohana, Aizen, and Hitsugaya would probably be indifferent to him beyond following their orders. A guess the Ichigo could believe, at least for the fox-faced freak he'd left frozen in a Tsukishiro; Gin hadn't shown any particular malice or passion to put an end to him. In fact, in retrospective study, he seemed to confront Ichigo simply for the sake of saying he had.

Yamamoto, SoiFon, Komamura and Tosen were expected to hunt him to the edges of the Rukongai if he allowed them, painting a very clear picture in Ichigo's mind: Stay. Away. Far, far away.

That left Kenpachi and Kurotsuchi, who were both likely to see him as a toy… a punching bag, in the case of the former, and a science experiment to dissect in the case of the latter. And Byakuya… who Ichigo _fully_ planned to confront if he saw him, risks and time be damned. That uptight son of a _bitch_ needed some sense knocked into him.

Outside of that, the only Lieutenants that Shira seemed to think warranted some concern were Renji, and Shuhei Hisagi of the ninth. All the others were either weak enough to handle - Kotetsu, of the fourth and Hinamori of the fifth, for example - disinterested enough to avoid - Matsumoto of the tenth and Yachiru of the eleventh - or came hand in hand with their Captains - notably, Nemu of the 12th.

Beyond that, Ichigo could more or less advance straight for the Senzaikyu, as the majority of the shinigami in the seireitei wouldn't be much more than a nuisance. Perhaps a couple seated officers might be a delay, but nothing Shirayuki's dances couldn't take care of.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't allow himself to fall into his inner world or into the peaceful silence of sleep - he was still leaking reiatsu, and he was alone. He couldn't afford to be unaware - but he did visualize himself drawing energy into his body from the surrounding air. A trick he'd used as a kid, when he still cared about not falling asleep in class and had found it hard to sleep the night before.

Unknown to him, the crates in the room began to dissolve into pure reishi, and steadily flow into his soul.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

"Rukia?" The girl asked as she lowered herself to the ground next to Rukia, despite the very short and tattered skirt of her dress, she didn't seem to mind the cold stone beneath her. "Who is this… Ichigo?"

Rukia opened her eyes and glanced up at the girl, giving a small smile to her, apologizing for having been dragged away by the things she'd sensed happening in the world around her. The fact that she could feel it at all through the sekkiseki and her diminished powers was impressive in it's own right.

"He's that human that I told you about. The one I gave my powers to. The one my Zanpakuto went to." She breathed, hugging her knees closer to her. She tried to fight back the tears that pricked at the back of her eyes from another wave of guilt; ruining Ichigo's life. Shutting Shirayuki out for all these years…

"But… Why would he be here, Rukia?" The girl asked, brow furrowing in confusion, and green eyes wide at the revelation.

Rukia chuckled.

The girl recoiled slightly at the sound, then relaxed when she realized it was just laughter. Her heart soaring when she placed it as genuine, fond laughter.

Those damn shinigami hadn't completely broken Rukia.

"Because he's an idiot. He's probably here to try and save me… he's going to get himself killed." The midget sighed, looking up at the girl.

"I should probably start from the beginning. Huh? Why don't you go grab your brother. I'd hate to leave him out of storytime." Rukia asked gently.

Why not? If all she was going to do for the next week or two was sit in this tower and be alone and miserable, why not at least talk to the two spirits from her past, who were so obviously enthralled with her life?

She smiled again when the girl lit up in happiness, and quickly got up to run and find her brother.

Watching the girl leave, Rukia allowed her mind to wander in the meantime. Most specifically on the two spirits themselves. Why she forgot them. Where they had been. And why they were here now in her inner world?

Were they dead? Had she absorbed them somehow and they had been here the whole time, but because she'd shut herself out from her mental world, she'd never noticed?

Had a hollow eaten them and then later attacked her, and they somehow got transferred to her by some special ability of the hollow?

Were _they_ hollows now? With a special ability to devour her from the inside like the one that had possessed Kaien?

Or was _she_ a hollow, deep under all the Shinigami robes, and she'd forgotten them because her inner hollow had taken over and devoured the two?

Nonsense, of course. She was a shinigami. There was no way she could be a hollow too. That was impossible! - right?

She looked out at the pair, shaking herself from her thoughts as they returned to her. She smiled softly at them. The man with the scythe, ever the quiet depiction of serene stoicness. His face mostly void of emotions, other than the obvious deep, pooling passion he had for her and his sister.

The sister, far more bright and talkative. Her passion had a different taste to it. A different feel. It was more of a burn. A bright blaze that reached out to her, eager for her to nurture it and care for it.

She could feel the names that she'd picked for them, so long ago. Sitting there in the back of her mind, but just out of reach. Every time she tried to think of it, it was like she just thought of the descriptions she'd just now given to the pair. But no clear Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana, or even Romaji jumped out at her.

It was maddening. It was like she was trying to learn Sode no Shirayuki's name all over again, hearing nothing but silence from the pale yuki-onna every time she spoke her name on Rukia's selectively deaf ears.

"Alright. You wanted to know about Ichigo… but for a lot of the reason I felt drawn to him, I first need to start fifty years ago, when I was adopted by the Kuchiki clan, graduated from the Academy, and joined the Thirteenth Division…"

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Yoruichi scowled in her feline body, sitting back on the haunches of the black furred, masculine sounding cat body she resided in while she watched the three charges she'd come with try… And fail, in some cases rather spectacularly… to create a shield with the orbs.

They would not be able to enter the Seireitei until Orihime figured out how to keep her focus and keep her sphere alive. Until Chad managed to stabilize his, which was flickering madly, or Uryu figured out how to make his an actual _sphere_ , as opposed to a damn hourglass.

She wouldn't be nearly as irritated as she presently was, of course, had the leader of this crusade to save Rukia not run off on his own to face Gin Ichimaru and gotten trapped in the Seireitei on his own.

She couldn't feel him through the sekkiseki walls that surrounded the court of pure souls, and that caused the fur on her back to rise, even as she tried to breathe and calm herself.

She had no idea if he was alive or dead. If he was alive, he was in there. _Alone_. And he had no idea the kind of treachery and trickery that _Aizen_ was capable of.

And she was stuck here with these three. Who, try as they might, and admirable as their power was… had absolutely no hope of completing this quest to save Rukia on their own.

Uryu and Chad were strong enough to be annoying, and Orihime had the power to protect and heal them. But from the very start that was all these three were ever going to be; a distraction.

Without Ichigo, this plan was almost doomed to fail.

She could only hope that the gushing intellectual fascination… the closest that Kisuke Urahara could get to actual _praise,_ likely… over Ichigo's development during the ten day training period, that the carrot-topped teen could handle himself in the Seireitei until they got there to help.

Or, more likely, they got there and split up, with her running off to find Ichigo and the other three trying to cause a ruckus to keep the Shinigami from focusing on Ichigo.

Damned Shiba's and their harebrained schemes.


	10. Chapter 10 - For The Love Of Science

"Yare yare. What do we have here?" A voice asked in mild interest, tearing a certain carrot-topped teenager from his unintended nap with a vengeance. Caramel eyes snapped open and whipped around to look at the source of the voice...To see what looked all the world like a clown standing there in a Captain's haori and the quite literally stupidest hat that Ichigo had ever seen in his life, all wearing an expression of scientific glee and a boundless level of interest. _'Oh no…'_ 'Shit.'

"What is this ability just now? Absorbing all of my test chemicals? How intriguing. You must be the Ryoka boy I've been hearing so much about." Ichigo narrowed his eyes as the man just put his hands together and rubbed them emphatically in intellectual excitement.

Ichigo risked breaking his eyes away from his opponent just for a moment to glance around the storehouse to try and figure out exactly what the hell the Captain was talking about. What he found was...nothing. The last vestiges of the final crates that had filled this storehouse before he'd arrived finishing their disintegration and floating over to him. 'What the…' 'You absorbed them, Ichigo.' Zangetsu offered helpfully. Deigning to try and give the boy the information he needed to make sense of the situation and return his attention to the maniac in front of him and the quiet, demure woman standing behind him that seemed to try and make herself as small and quiet as possible.

"Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, I presume?" Ichigo asked, trying to force his voice into a depiction of calm and narrowing his eyes while Mayuri took the chance to step forward.

"Yare yare...well informed, are we? Did you figure that out on your own, or did someone - or, perhaps...something - tell you that? Perhaps that Zanpakuto you're reaching for right now?" Ichigo's hand froze, bare millimeters away from the grip of Sode no Shirayuki - having indeed, been reaching for it. Then he scowled, and curled his fingers around the hilt, ready to draw her in an instant.

'I _really_ don't like this guy…'

' _I would also prefer if he didn't dissect you…'_

"I would very much like to know how you were able to use another's Zanpakuto. What would you say about coming to work for me as an experimental test subject?" Mayuri questioned, golden eyes lighting up in apparent excitement at the mere thought. "I already have so many experimental drugs and surgeries in mind for you!"

' _...As I was saying. I would prefer he didn't.'_

Ichigo shivered in a mix of disgust and heightened awareness, goosebumps prickling to life all up and down the nape of his neck. "Fuck that." He declared, drawing Shirayuki and spinning her in his hand to immediately begin stabbing her tip into the ground in front of him. "Tsugi no Mai-"

"Nah ah ah - I think not." Mayuri grinned, reaching for the hilt of the Zanpakuto nestled between his legs in the center of his waist, and drawing it one motion. "Rip, Ashisogi Jizo."

The clown leapt at Ichigo, forcing the carrot-top to abandon the Hakuren and lift Shirayuki to try and block the strike...when suddenly the woman appeared out of nowhere on his left. 'Shit!' Ichigo cursed, taking a step back with his left leg and pulling his left hand from Shirayuki's hilt, instantly materializing his spirit tanto in his left hand to try and block any strike from the woman.

"Oooh...is that a Quincy weapon? Yare yare. You _will_ be quite the interesting test subject! So many experiments, so little time." Mayuri taunted as the edge of his trident-like Shikai clanged against Shirayuki, and Ichigo quickly leapt up and backwards into a flip to put some distance between himself and this maniac. "I can't wait to turn you into mush!"

Ichigo ducked under a kick from the girl - _'Nemu.'_ Shirayuki provided, so as to give him a name - and lashed out with his tanto at her support leg, spinning behind her and trying to use her as a shield to keep between Mayuri and himself.

"I don't think so!" Ichigo scowled, and angled Shirayuki downwards - "Some no Mai-" digging the sharpened tip into the ground and slicing a circle into the floor around them as he spun around, breaking the contact with the ground just in time to lift the blade up to catch Mayuri's trident on the sharpened edge once more. "-Tsukishiro!"

Mayuri's eyes widened, more from interested glee than from shock or fear, and he shunpo'd backwards to escape from the circle. His lieutenant hadn't been nearly as fast, and Nemu was caught in the pillar of Ice that erupted out of the ground around Ichigo.

Ichigo took a breath and stepped back to try and keep the distance, but as quickly as the clown had flashed out of the danger zone, he was back in it, clashing his blade viciously against Shirayuki.

The carrot-top scrambled to defend, but Mayuri charged with reckless abandon, and soon enough the teenager ran out of room, his back heel brushed against the wall of the storehouse, and with widened eyes, he quickly tried to leap over the mad scientist.

A flash of gold and sharp, searing pain was the first indication that Mayuri's upward slice caught a piece of Ichigo's leg. The flash of red spraying across the walls being the second. Ichigo cried out and thudded to the floor painfully, flailing around as he slid across the tile next to the cracking ice sculpture that contained one Nemu Kurotsuchi until he was stopped by another wall.

He tried to turn to face the Captain fully, finding it extraordinarily difficult to do so. 'Damn it, Damn it, DAMN IT!' he screamed mentally, realizing that there had to have been more to the ability of Mayuri's shikai to make it this difficult for him to move after a mere glancing blow to his left shin.

The pillar of ice finally crumbled, and Nemu collapsed to her and hands and knees out of it, coughing and shivering in what likely amounted to pneumonia. She forced herself up to her feet, looking to her Captain with a small grin to congratulate him on his apparent victory...only to receive a punch to the face that knocked her right back on her ass.

"Baka! You couldn't even catch him. I thought I told you to grab him and hold on, even if your arms were ripped out and your legs were cut off!" Mayuri scoffed, standing there and glaring at her, seemingly having lost all concern for the Ryoka that sat slumped against the wall a few feet away. He ignored her apologies. "I don't even expect that much from you in the first place. I had hoped you would at least provide a distraction."

"Oi, jackass. I'm still over here." Ichigo grunted, struggling to move his arms to support him. Fighting whatever it was that was trying to keep him immobile. 'Dammit, body. MOVE!' He urged.

Mayuri whirled to glare at him. "I'll deal with you in a minute, Ryoka-boy. We'll have plenty of time to play once I'm finished here...what's this? You're actually able to move? Most impressive." He praised, then turned again and levelled a kick on Nemu.

' _That's his_ daughter! _What is wrong with this creep?!_ ' Shirayuki cried out, and Ichigo felt his body run distinctly cold as her anger took over her. He welcomed the chill, embraced it. Still fighting to get his arms and legs to move so he could stand up. 'God. Fucking. Dammit. MOVE!'

'There is a way, Ichigo.' Zangetsu piped up, offering a solution. 'Use reishi to force your limbs to move. Like strings to a puppet. You may not have the fine control required to move like you would if you weren't paralyzed...But you'll be able to move.'

'Good enough. Thanks, Zangetsu.' Ichigo offered, scowling as he watched Mayuri begin to stomp on Nemu like she was a bug she was trying to snuff out. Berating her for her failure and for her sluggishness to get up after being frozen solid for almost a minute.

Trying to form the puppet strings was the hardest part. To date, his only way to control his spiritual pressure was to just imagine a container he wanted to fill...be that a disc like platform or a long strip-lane of reishi, or the shape of a tanto in his left hand...and just point his pressure at it like a firehose and let loose until that container was full. It was quite inefficient and wasteful, if you really looked at it, but until now, he'd had the reiatsu to spare.

It didn't really help that his focus was interrupted with a wince of sympathy for each blow Mayuri landed on his daughter. "Hey, cut it out!" He roared.

Mayuri turned to him with a bored expression. "Why? Why do you even care what I do with her, Ryoka-boy?" He asked, tilting his head curiously. "She's just another woman to you. An enemy at that. But she's not even real. This masterpiece is the result of all my Gigai and Gikon techniques melded together into one. I created her. I can dispose of her as I see fit. And she's obviously defective if she can't even do so much as tackle you to the ground."

Ichigo winced at the explanation, although his conscience rose to the challenge and demanded action to save the girl, part of him was recognizing something else; a distinct, and sickening similarity that he led to this monster.

Kon.

He'd saved Kon because he was a 'real soul', despite his artificial creation and shouldn't just be destroyed.

And then proceeded to stuff him into a stuffed animal body and kick him around like the world's lightest punching bag.

Mayuri, seemingly disinterested in him once again in favor of taking his irritation out on Nemu, had already turned to slam the girl into the wall, leading to a cry of pain and a spray of blood escaping from her mouth.

'Kon, when I get back to the living world... _when_...I am going to get hat'n'clogs to make you a gigai. You deserve to have a real life. Annoying as you are.' Ichigo vowed, and then he opened his eyes, feeling the spiritual puppet strings solidify with his rage and determination to _live_ to keep that promise to Kon.

"Oh? What is this?" Mayuri wondered, dropping Nemu like a sack of potatoes on the ground as reiatsu roared off of Ichigo in waves. He turned, golden eyes looking quite interested. "You managed to stand up?"

He turned and smiled, his scientific interest in Ichigo renewed with an expression of sick joy. "I know why...Ransotengai. Elderly Quincy used to use this technique to continue fighting hollows, even if their bones were crushed or their tendons torn. It exists so that one can fight until one's body falls to pieces. The ultimate Quincy battle technique...I thought it was a lost art. Tell me...where did you learn this?"

Ichigo snarled at him, and gripped Shirayuki tightly once more, as well as his Spirit Tanto...the physical manifestation of Zangetsu. "I didn't."

"Oh?"

"You were just pissing me off and I wanted to kick your ass so much I decided to force my body to move."

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

The floor shuddered with power, an earthquake that sent everything not bolted to the floor sliding across said floor anywhere from inches to feet, depending on the weight of the object. In particular, one humanoid figure was thrown from his bed and his slumber, slamming into the rumbling floor beneath.

Golden rings, surrounded both insides and out by pools of darkness, snapped open. Bleach-white lips splitting into a manic grin once he realized what was happening. **"Awake...I'm finally awake."** The figure cackled. **"Soon, The throne will be mine, King. But for now..."**

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

"Yare yare...That's right. I still need to study you…" Mayuri mused, reaching up to his left ear, and - with a motion that made the sushi Ichigo had had for lunch before traveling to Soul Society lurch upwards in his stomach - detached a sharpened part of it, shaped like a scythe and connected to the side of his head by a length of tendon, began to spin it around like a kunai on a chain and flung it in Ichigo's direction.

' _That has to be_ the _most disgusting thing I've ever seen…_ ' Shirayuki sounded as sickened by the movement as Ichigo felt, but he flashed out of the way of the oncoming body part.

'I wholeheartedly agree.' He grumbled, ducking under the next swing by Mayuri, before the madman yanked on the tendon to retract it for a new toss, Ichigo scowled and sliced at the tendon that held the scythe on with Shirayuki's blade, holding Zangetsu's behind him and pouring reiatsu and drawing reishi both into it to form a Hellig Pfeil...shaped nothing like an arrow, to be honest. But the title remained.

'This thing is worse than Renji's shikai!' The carrot top grumbled, throwing his left arm forward in a wide arc, unleashing the ranged attack at Mayuri while ducking under the flying ear-scythe and spinning under it, bringing Shirayuki up behind him to block the return trip of the scythe, which was sure to be aimed at some point of his body.

As soon as he heard the _clang_ of ear meeting blade, he struck, slicing Zangetsu with lightning speed at the tendon that served as the leash for the ear, and slicing through it like a knife through hot butter.

As soon as it was free, Ichigo set his jaw, and flashed forward. His spiritual pressure exploding outwards; remembering _why_ he was here.

He was here to save Rukia.

And he couldn't do that with this bastard getting in his way.

Mayuri's eyes widened and he lifted Ashisogi Jizo. "Ban-"

"San no Mai: Shirafune!" The building exploded into blue spirit particles, drawn to the tip of Sode no Shirayuki's blade, solidifying into ice...and then shooting forth like a beam of pure _winter_. An icy mockery of Gin Ichimaru's shikai. The blade pierced through Mayuri's lower left side, and Ichigo roared as he ripped Shirayuki up and towards his right, extending out to his right side, held up at a forty-five degree angle.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi fell to the ground, bisected into two diagonal halves. Left hip to just under his right arm. His grip on Ashisogi Jizo somehow maintained. "Damn...you…" The maniac gasped out, and with the last of his strength, brought his sword up...now returned to it's sealed state...and slashed it across his own throat. His upper half instantly dissolved into a puddle of green goo.

Ichigo stood for a moment, breathing heavily, and then used Hirenkyaku to flash away from the area, not even bothering to stay to hear the rest of Mayuri's escape from certain death.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

'Just hold on, Ichigo...we're on our way.' Yoruichi vowed as the cannonball that contained her neko-form, along with Uryu, Chad, Orihime, and one Ganju Shiba. 'Please be alright and don't do anything stupid…'

None of the others noticed, too occupied with holding the shape of the cannonball and worried about what would happen when they hit the barrier that surrounded the Seireitei.

She was the only one who noticed an entire building, though still small and looking merely the size of a bottlecap from their present height and distance...dissolve into pure light and implode in on itself.

She dug her claws into the sphere beneath her that powered the cannonball barrier they were encased in. Ready to abandon her four charges and race after Ichigo the moment her feet landed on solid ground.

'At least you're still alive.'


	11. Chapter 11 - For The Love Of Battle

When the cannonball slammed into the barrier around the Seireitei, Yoruichi had no doubt that every soul inside the home of the Shinigami heard, saw, and felt the impact.

The entrance wasn't exactly subtle - then again, nothing the Shiba's ever did _was_ \- but it had been the only way remaining to get inside and help Ichigo.

The barrier that contained them hadn't lasted for more than a few seconds after it managed to force its way through the one that covered the Seireitei like a dome - the five beings contained within all split in the ensuing fall and the explosion of the sphere that had powered it.

Yoruichi calmly rolled in midair to straighten herself, and took a quick glance at the others before they were out of sight; Ganju and Chad, flying off to her right. Uryu and Orihime, off to her left. She would fall by herself somewhere in the middle.

Perfect. She wouldn't have to make any explanations or sneaky escapes to get away and start her chase to catch up with the carrot-topped enigma.

She could only hope that the others remembered their role. Although their mission here was to save Rukia, the only reason the other three were around was to support Ichigo. Friend as she may have been to Orihime and Chad while she was in the living world, Rukia wasn't why _they_ were here.

With that in mind, their role was simple: cause as much chaos as physically possible and draw the mass of Shinigami away from focusing on Ichigo.

When her paws touched the ground - actually a rooftop a couple stories off the ground - they did so already moving. She hit the ground running. Channeling reiatsu into the feet of her animal form, she shunpo'd away, reaching out with her senses to try and find that trickle of pressure that Ichigo was always leaking.

Her blood ran cold when she felt it. Not because she felt it. Nor because of where she felt it. But because of who she felt _near_ it.

'Dammit, Ichigo!' She cursed, channeling more reiatsu to her legs.

She needed to get to him. _Now._

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

It was a surprisingly uneventful day for Ichigo. He felt like he was playing a game of supersonic hide and seek with the black-garbed soldiers of soul society. None of them really fast enough to catch him if he broke into Hirenkyaku and ran away.

Which so far, had been the plan. After defeating Mayuri, apparently the eluding of one Captain and the defeat of another had spread like wildfire throughout the thirteen divisions, and everybody was hunting him.

Or they would have, anyway - had something not slammed into the barrier surrounding the place and deposited four other souls and a cat.

That took just enough pressure off of Ichigo to be able to take short breaks in buildings he found on his way to the Senzaikyu. The Seireitei was, honestly, quite massive. Hirenkyaku had cut what would and probably should have been a five day walk just to get to the center of Soul Society, without any resistance… into maybe a two or three day endeavor with.

The issue was that this extreme and constant use of the high speed technique was not something he was used to, and though he pushed himself to a new limit every time, eventually he had to stop every so often to catch his breath and regain his bearings.

He _was_ essentially sprinting across the damn cityscape of soul society, after all.

But it didn't matter now, because he was here. All that stood between him and the large hill - seriously, what did it take for people in Soul Society to consider something a fucking mountain? - upon which the Senzaikyu and the first division headquarters sat, was a large open courtyard and a single staircase.

And a spiky haired man wearing an eyepatch and a manic grin.

Fuck.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Yoruichi finally caught up to Ichigo just in time to see him confronted by Kenpachi Zaraki at the foot of the first division headquarters. She scowled, but lowered herself to the haunches of her cat form, deciding to sit there and watch - only interfering if Ichigo lost. Or won and needed medical attention.

Of all the people in Soul Society that Ichigo had to pick to run into, he picked the two absolute maniacs. Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Kenpachi Zaraki.

She sat down, forcing her heart not to flutter with worry while she watched.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Ichigo's eye twitched when Kenpachi offered him the first strike with a wide grin. 'Well… I doubt I'm going to get around him. So if he's going to give it to me… why not?'

He charged forward, drawing Shirayuki and pointing her forward in one motion, and buried his blade deep in Kenpachi's stomach. Running the mountain of a man through on the pure white blade, now stained crimson with the blood of the monster before him.

He intended to finish this fight as fast as possible.

So needless to say, he felt a large weight settle in the pit of his stomach when the spiky-haired freak just _laughed_ _with delight_.

"You actually cut me! I guess I don't have to hold back. This is gonna be so much _fun_!"

When he lifted a leg to kick the bewildered teenager away, he reached up with one hand to rip his eyepatch off, and Ichigo growled under the sudden onslaught of spiritual pressure that follow, having to shove his own out in a sort of shield that encased his body in order to keep from sinking to his knees.

A tattered blade was drawn by the bloodthirsty Captain across from him - Ichigo winced when he heard the blade _screaming…_ was if from pain? Or was it trying hard to get Kenpachi's attention and failing miserably?

Either way, Ichigo decided without even hearing a word from Kenpachi about it - or seeing him swing the thing yet - that he did _not_ like the way the Captain of eleventh treated his Zanpakuto.

Kenpachi rushed at him with pure elation and the thrill of combat burning in his eyes, and Ichigo was forced into a dance of twirls and blocks, using Shirayuki in two hands to even hope to hold back the vicious swings and trying to use his footwork to throw Kenpachi off-balance at some point.

His arms _hurt_ with every blow delivered by the maniac, and he had to use Hirenkyaku to flash away from danger when he heard the bells in Kenpachi's hair ringing behind him, his only warning at the blade rushing at him from behind.

Ichigo was seriously considering just giving Kenpachi the Ichimaru treatment and just hitting him with a Tsukishiro and running the hell away before he broke out of the ice, when something stopped him.

' **Tsk, tsk, tsk… you're still not finished with him? Pathetic, King. Really. Let me show you how it's supposed to be done.'**

He screamed. White particles flowing out of the atmosphere and drawing themselves to the left side of his face, he screamed and screamed with one voice, while a second from the same mouth broke into maniacal laughter.

Caramel faded to gold. White shifted to black.

" **This is gonna be fun!"**

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Ichigo was thrown to his inner world, where he slammed on his back onto the window beneath him. A spiderweb of small cracks appearing from the point where he landed. "What the… what the hell is going on?" He groaned, looking around.

He found Shirayuki quickly rushing to his side and kneeling next to him, hands checking over his soul for injuries with a cool touch that made him shiver in relief, and Zangetsu - standing a few paces away and looking grim.

"He's awake." The manifestation of his Quincy powers announced quietly, and Ichigo couldn't help but scowl. A glance to Shirayuki caused his features to soften at the concern he found there, and then he sighed, realizing that being angry at an otherwise helpful piece of his own soul wouldn't do him much good in figuring out what was going on right now.

" _Who's_ awake, Old Man?" He asked, forcing himself to sit up, although he had to lean slightly into Shirayuki's supporting touch to do so.

" _Your inner hollow."_ She was answered him softly, her left hand massaging slow circles in his back that he realized only had a passing coincidence in being concern for him - the Yuki-onna was _nervous_.

And scared.

That pissed Ichigo off mightily, and lightning flashed across the sky of his mental world. A deafening crash of thunder accompanying the light a few seconds later. This was followed by more flashes, scattered around the inside of his mental world and the steady flurry of snowflakes that was constantly present in his mental world to rage up into nothing short of a blizzard.

He was so pissed off that Shirayuki was scared by something in his soul that he'd caused _fucking thundersnow_.

He wrapped his left arm around Shira's shoulders and pulled her into him in a hug that obviously surprised the sword spirit. And Ichigo himself would have flushed red when he noticed the identical flush across her face… had he not been so furious.

His world started to flash back and forth. Like a strobelight. In the light - his mental world, where he was reaching up to his face to grab something that was itching at the left side and rip it off. In the dark, reality. Where the blades of Shirayuki and Zangetsu were slicing viciously through the flesh of Kenpachi Zaraki, no thought for defense in the wild and relentless assault, the nameless and battered Zanpakuto of his opponent slicing into his own flesh in a duel that completely lacked any form of finesse.

His wounds healed almost as soon as they were created. And Kenpachi Zaraki was roaring with delighted laughter at the challenge, despite the blood he and the ground below were now thoroughly soaked in.

He watched, through the flashes of light and dark - in the mental world - his left hand nearing his face. In reality - Zangetsu dispelling into spirit particles while his fingers curled around the inner edge of the mask that had started to form.

He grabbed hard, and he _tore_ to get the thing off.

' **No! No! Nooo!'** His inner hollow screamed while Ichigo wrestled back control.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

He found himself thrown back into control of his body just as Shirayuki's blade buried itself in Kenpachi's chest. 'Shira!'

' _Ichigo! You're hurt!'_ She cried back, and the carrot-top noticed that he too, was impaled on a blade: Kenpachi's nameless Zanpakuto jutting through his stomach and out his back.

He barely felt it. A slow, burning pain. But the adrenaline from the fight, the fury at this new inner hollow, the concern for Shirayuki's fear and nervousness, and the drive to _just get to Rukia_ all came to a head and dispelled the pain away.

He twisted Shirayuki a quarter turn inside of Kenpachi's chest and snarled. "Yon no Mai."

He looked up and met Kenpachi's suddenly wide eyes. "Juhaku."

Ice rushed through Kenpachi's veins. First the arteries and veins themselves, and then Kenpachi's skin crystallizing with ice.

The spread of the biting frost continued out from Kenpachi's feet, tree limbs of winter cracking the tile beneath their feet.

Ichigo ripped Sode no Shirayuki out of the spiky haired human popsicle, stepped away from Kenpachi's own blade as he did.

Blood didn't flow out of the wound - so as Kenpachi was frozen solid, so was his Zanpakuto, and as such, Ichigo's wound was frozen shut.

He flicked Shirayuki out to the right, cleaning her blade of the remaining blood.

And then promptly collapsed to the ground with a thud next to the ice statue of the eleventh Captain.


	12. Chapter 12 - For The Love Of Chaos

When Ichigo began to stir, he noticed a few things almost instantly, before his eyes even started to flutter open. Namely? He was warm.

And wet.

And naked.

Completely. Utterly. Naked.

Forget the fluttering. His eyes snapped open upon that last realization to figure out where he was.

He found himself in what appeared to be a cave. A very well lit cave, similar to the training area underneath Urahara's shop. He didn't bother to wonder _where_ precisely the light came from.

And inside that cave, he was in a hot springs, slumped against the side on a rock. And across from him at the edge of the pool of steaming water, blinking at him slowly with golden pools rife with mischief, was one black cat.

"Ah. You're awake. Good."

"Yoruichi?" He asked, momentarily forgetting his nudity as he sat up and put a hand to his forehead. "What happened? Where am I? And how the hell did I get here?"

The cat let out a snort and lifted a paw. "You fought against Kenpachi Zaraki. And won. Though you passed out from your injuries shortly afterwards. You're in a hot springs that has the power to heal your wounds. As for how you got here… isn't it obvious?"

With that, Ichigo's eyes widened when the cat began to _morph_. Bones stretched and crackled as they took on new shapes and joints popped into place. Hair grew and retreated in different places.

"I brought you here." Yoruichi… now a woman with mocha skin, long violet hair, and a voluptuous body spoke with a teasing grin.

A very voluptuous body.

A very _naked_ voluptuous body.

"Gah! WHAT THE HELL!?" Ichigo roared, holding up his arms to cover his eyes from her. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WARN SOMEBODY NEXT TIME! AND WEAR SOME DAMN CLOTHES!"

Yoruichi reared her head back and laughed. A genuine, amused, and gentle laugh. "What? You really thought I was a talking cat? Cats don't talk, Ichi-kun~."

"No! I didn't think you were a damn cat!" He shot back, still looking away. "Clothes!"

She grinned widely, still not moving from her seated position. "For me or you? C'mon Ichi-kun. I don't mind if you look. I've certainly been enjoying the view~."

She enjoyed the deep red that his entire body flushed. He yelped, his hand splashing loudly into the water as he reached to cover himself. "Yare yare. No wonder they call you strawberry~."

His flustered reaction was all that was needed to drag another reaction out of her, although she finally took pity on him and moved to collect their piled clothing from the ground near the springs.

Soon enough… Although her amusement remained… Yoruichi found herself clothed, with a sobered expression. "Alright, Ichigo. Here's the deal. There's a second release for your Zanpakuto. Normally this takes decades to train for. I know a way to do it in three days. I was going to teach you. But there's been a change of plans."

Ichigo, to his credit, paid attention and didn't make any assumptions. "What kind of changes?"

The violet haired werecat answered by holding up what looked to be a human sized white doll. "This is a tenshintai. Kisuke developed them as a way to forcibly manifest a Zanpakuto and subdue them. Thus granting Bankai. To date, he's the only one to do it this way. The manifestation last for three days. We're still going to do that… but not for Bankai."

"...We're not?" Ichigo questioned, eyebrow arched. "then what are we using it for?"

"Because, Ichi-kun. We have something far more important to do. We don't need to subdue your Zanpakuto. We need to subdue your _hollow._ Before he completely takes over and destroys everything you came here to save." She answered grimly. "While you're in your inner world fighting him, your body will be going nuts out here. I'm going to need all the help I can get keeping it occupied. I need Sode no Shirayuki and Zangetsu here to help me keep you from going on a rampage."

Ichigo stood up, eyes hard, and just as she opened her mouth to try and convince him further, he leapt and stabbed Sode no Shirayuki into the tenshintai she was holding, and then his spirit tanto into the one standing next to it. After a moment, the dolls morphed into perfect replicas of the spirits that occupied his inner world. "Then let's kick my hollow's ass."

Yoruichi smirked at his enthusiasm and resolve, and gave him a nod. "Three days, Ichigo. If you don't beat him three days, you'll turn into a hollow completely and I'll have to kill you."

"Be back in two." Ichigo countered, closing his eyes and diving into inner world.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

He opened his eyes on the skyscraper to find himself facing the hollow. A twisted doppelganger version of his that looked like it had been bleached from head to toe, clothes included.

He scowled at the mirror image. A negative reflection, and didn't waste time reaching for Shirayuki on his hip and calling Zangetsu to his hand. "So, what the hell am I supposed to call you?" He asked, drawing Shirayuki's white blade from her sheath.

The laughter that followed sounded very akin to nails on a chalkboard for some reason, and he set his jaw to bear against it. **"You already know my name, Kingy. I'm Zangetsu!"**

The carrot top frowned while the negative reached behind his back and drew what appeared to be a massive white cleaver, wrapped with a black ribbon intended to be a grip. "You're not Zangetsu." He declared flatly, glaring into the black and gold pools of his counterpart.

" _ **He**_ **isn't Zangetsu!"** The Hollow scoffed. **"Or maybe he is. We're two sides to the same coin, kingy. He's the darkness, I'm the light. He's the brains, I'm the brawn. He's the yang to my yin. He's a servant and I'm about to be the master!"**

Ichigo frowned again. "You'll have to get through me first, Shiro." He scoffed, deciding to bestow a nickname upon the white figure rather than giving him the satisfaction of calling him Zangetsu.

Hey, nobody ever accused Ichigo Kurosaki of being creative.

" **Oh, I plan to, kingy."**

"Then let's go, jester." Ichigo shot back. Raising both blades.

" **Hahahhahaha…. HAHAHAHAAAA!"** The Hollow roared in maniacal laughter, rushing at him with cleaver raised high to strike.

And so it began.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Yoruichi leapt backwards, throwing her leg up in a kick that caught Ichigo's slowly hollowfying body in the chin, slamming his snarling jaw shut with a sickening crunch. She used her hands to catch herself with a brief handstand, continuing her flip until she was back on her feet, about 10 feet away and facing him. Her shoulders flared to life with the power of kido. The mix of hakuda and kido that she'd mastered oh so long ago.

Her, Shirayuki, and Zangetsu were taking turns fighting Ichigo. Each taking the slowly mutating strawberry for 15 minutes before tagging out with the next. After six hours, it had become obvious that they each had a different style - Yoruichi used her mastery of hakuda and shunpo to annoy the shit out of the berserking body, landing a kick or a punch here and there and then proceeding to make him chase her all over the cave.

Sode no Shirayuki was more conventional, and far more graceful, her signature twirls and blocks redirecting the blows of the hollow within Ichigo, which was slowly taking the form of some kind of lizard. Her ice attacks froze Ichigo's body in place, snarling whenever Shirayuki needed to take a step back and catch her breath.

And then there was Zangetsu. He was definitely the most straight-forward of the three of them. And the quietest. While Yoruichi sprinkled taunts and teasing jokes, and Shirayuki words of encouragement, both of them seeming to hope they would reach through the body and get to Ichigo underneath it all, Zangetsu was almost entirely silent… and more aggressive. His blocks were attacks in their own right, a black katana slashing across limbs and tail together while Ichigo's body stumbled away like some form of animal retreating for its life. Even though the high speed regeneration healed any wounds that any of them inflicted.

This Ichigo was _feral_ in every sense of the word.

'Hope you're alright in there, Ichigo.' The catwoman thought calmly when Shirayuki flashed in front of her and took the next attack against her white katana. Signifying it was time for Yoruichi to take a break.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Ichigo and Shiro, for their part, were just getting warmed up.

They were perfectly evenly matched...Although their fighting styles couldn't be more different. It was finesse against ferocity. Dancer against berserker. Deception against assault.

" **You've got more spunk than I give you credit for, king. Why won't you just die?"**

Ichigo snorted and ducked under another swipe of the large cleaver. "Not happening, Pasty." He offered, then casually sliced at Shiro's thigh, knowing full well that the wound would heal almost as soon as it was inflicted.

Ichigo watched his hollow's next assault closely, even while lifting his blade to block each strike and then twirling around to slice at Shiro's achilles tendon.

He missed, of course. But he knew he would, just stepping back and smirking. "That the best you've got? You've got a long way to go to be king if you can't even hit me." He taunted.

When Shiro charged next, Ichigo smirked again and lunged to the side, _throwing_ Shirayuki's blade at his counterpart and holding on to the ribbon extending from the pommel to maintain control, swinging the sword over his head like a helicopter blade with a seemingly random angle with every rotation.

Shiro jumped back almost instantly, expecting Ichigo to start to twirl and keep the spinning going, a defense mechanism of sorts.

He didn't.

Ichigo threw Shirayuki at his hollow self again, much like Mayuri had thrown his disgusting ear at him before. And then charged behind it with Zangetsu's blade raised to strike.

Style and finesse was abandoned, and the tables turned. Now it was _Ichigo_ that was attacking like a swarm of angry birds.

It soon became quite apparent that Ichigo's inner hollow...aggressive and skilled as he was...had little to no idea what the hell to do when it was _him_ being attacked. He was suddenly throwing his sword around, just trying to knock Shirayuki's blade aside, or even better; cut the ribbon.

After a few minutes, he finally managed it. The giant white cleaver slicing through the ribbon and smirk of victory covering his face…

...Until Ichigo froze the air between the two pieces of ribbon, reconnecting it long enough to drag Shirayuki back to him.

The hollow scowled at this. If the damn carrot-haired punk had been fighting with the strength 'Zangetsu' had given him and only that, this would be no contest.

But no, he had _Rukia's_ Zanpakuto. And he wasn't nearly as intimately familiar with the ice powers or the katana itself as he was with his cleaver.

But he wasn't about to give up yet. This would just make sitting on the throne all the more satisfying when he finally won.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Yoruichi watched from the sidelines, flanked by Shirayuki and Zangetsu as they all apprehensively watched their newest guest face off against Ichigo's hollow form.

Renji Abarai had appeared about three hours ago, claiming he was there to train for his bankai so that he could save Rukia. He was instantly enlisted to help hold off Ichigo's hollow form while he was doing that.

Right now the redhead was cursing up a storm as he jumped from rock to rock, flinging Zabimaru's shikai at the reptilian form of Ichigo's body every chance he got.

More worrisome, was the news Renji had brought; Rukia's execution date had been moved up. To tomorrow. If Ichigo didn't win against his hollow _tonight_ , they would lose. Rukia would die. Aizen would get his prize. And Ichigo may or may not lose control to the hollow whether or not he won if that happened.

"C'mon, Ichigo…"

Suddenly the lizard form of Ichigo just...stopped, in the middle of the training area, tail swishing back and forth. Then the mask began to crumble around the edges. Spiderweb cracks extending inwards towards the center of the mask before it shattered and fell away. Revealing Ichigo's boyish face underneath.

Then the rest of the body exploded in a shower of reishi particles.

He did it. He won.

"...Renji? What the fuck are you doing here?"


	13. Chapter 13 - For The Love Of Victory

Rukia Kuchiki stared defiantly into the eyes of the Phoenix-like manifestation of the Sokyoku. Facing down against the power of a million Zanpakuto. She didn't want to die. She knew that now.

She had the twins. She wanted to get to know them. She wanted to name them. She wanted to _live_. Not pretend. She didn't want to go through the motions as she had for decades, merely existing in a trance.

 _Sitting on a hill, overlooking the 78th South District of the Rukongai, watching fondly as a younger version of the two played with each other on the peak overlooking the urban sprawl below._

Her head erupted with pain. Like an animal trying to claw it's way out of her skull. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes, and for the first time she let them fall.

Ichigo… _thrusting Sode no Shirayuki into his chest, pouring her power into him in the hope of allowing him to save her and his family…_

He was here. He was still trying to stop this execution. He would be hunted until there was nowhere left to run…

"Dance, _Sode no Shirayuki!" He cried, wind ripping at the simple dress she wore, her hair fraying in front of her face. The pain she felt, realizing her Zanpakuto had left her, mixed together with awe in the power that her newest friend displayed. His steadfast determination to protect her even from a fate she deserved…_

The Phoenix reared back. She closed her eyes. No longer able to bear to face her death in the eye. There was so much now that she wanted to do. So much that she wanted to say. That she wanted to make up for…

' _Rukia! Rukia, we can teleport, remember? Maybe we can teleport you! Fake your death! But we need you to tell us our names!'_ The blonde girl begged her. And a tear fell down Rukia's cheek.

She promised. She promised this girl and her brother that she would name them. And she couldn't. She'd failed to remember what the names she was going to give them had been. She was _so_ close! She knew it!

But it didn't matter, because now she was out of time. She would be erased from reality, burned to ashes like a childish drawing, thrown away into a chimney on a cold winter night.

'Rukia!' She heard the quiet boy in her head. And it came to her realization that she was still breathing. The heat and the power of the Sokyoku should have washed over her by now, obliterating her into the faintest particles of reiatsu, dispersed into the atmosphere of soul society. Completely and utterly destroyed beyond any hope of reincarnation.

She slowly opened her eyes in confusion… to find herself staring into flaring blue eyes, orange hair, and a calm, easy smile. "Oi, Rukia! I came to rescue you."

Ichigo Kurosaki. Standing in front of her on thin air, wrapped in a earthy brown cloak, holding the Sokyoku back with one hand and the blade of Sode no Shirayuki.

Her violet eyes shot wide. The idiot! He really did it. He was here to rescue her! Her hope came rushing back to her, but so much of it at once ripped her ability to speak away from her. Her mouth moved, but no sound escaped.

She reached out desperately for the twins in her inner world. Reached into the depths of her mind for their names. Reached somewhere in her soul for the power to save this carrot-topped _fool_ from the pain and suffering he was about to go through for her sake.

Her head exploded with pain. Memories clawing away, trying to get out, and her clawing on the other side, trying to let them escape. She grit her teeth, and so consuming was the pain and disorienting the rush of memories, both relevant and not, that she didn't even notice Ichigo destroy the stand she was being crucified on, and throw her at her old friend; Renji Abarai.

 _A Shinigami, threatening the twins, and then threatening her when she came to their defense. A manic laugh, and some creepy conversation she couldn't quite recall. A ghostly white snake appearing - slithering around his shoulders and neck…_

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Ichigo smirked when a flash of orange raced across the top of Sokyoku Hill, the only indication that anything had passed… beyond the disappearance of SoiFon from among those Captains collected on the summit.

The flamboyantly garbed Kyoraku, the sickly Ukitake, and the elderly Yamamoto were the next to disappear. Leaving him only to face Byakuya Kuchiki.

The confrontation that Ichigo had been waiting for ever since he stepped into the Senkaimon. The bastard that had hurt his own sister for the sake of some stupid law, with no regard for the circumstances behind her crime…

' **Let me out, King! I want a piece of this son of a bitch!'** His inner hollow writhed in his head, and his manic grin widened. 'Give me a minute, looks like I have to take out the trash…' He promised, flashing down between the trio of lieutenants that chased after Renji, who was now running away with a seemingly catatonic midget in hand.

He sheathed Shirayuki, much to the Zanpakuto's amusement and his Hollow's approval, while he turned to face the three.

They all released their shikai, but Ichigo didn't even take the time to bother inspecting what their blades reformed into - he flashed forward on a current of reishi, blinking out of view from his old position and appearing with his arm extended through a suddenly shattered spiked sphere, somewhat akin to an old naval mine, and into the gut of the Lieutenant that took front and center against him. He whirled back, using the slight help from the momentum-stop of the punch to land a reverse-roundhouse right into the face of the Lieutenant immediately to his left, while his hand clenched the obi belt of the first and flung him around at the same time.

The whole action, over before it began, ended without Shirayuki ever straying from her sheath. It ended with one faceless-to-his-memory Lieutenant flat on their back below him with one brand new skeletal deformity and the other two in a pile of twisted and cracked limbs and Zanpakuto off to his right, while he turned to face Byakuya.

'Now then… where were we?'

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

"Long time, no see - eh, Soi Fon?" The figure that had tackled the second division leader straight off the side of the cliff that fell from Sokyoku Hill asked, reaching up to tug down the bandage-like cloths that was covering the lower half of her face, revealing a grinning visage and purple hair ripping against the resisting air.

"Yoruichi… -sama?" SoiFon couldn't help but ask in disbelief. Meeting the golden eyes of her childhood idol. The goddess of flash. Yoruichi Shihoin. Her heart threatened to burst with excitement and happiness now that her mentor was back…

And then froze, along with every drop of blood in her body when white became black, even though gold remained. _**"Good to see you too… Little Bee."**_ A distorted voice flowed out of Yoruichi's mouth. _**"But I'm afraid you're in the way."**_

Light erupted from Yoruichi's shoulders suddenly, and SoiFon finally found it in her to struggle, writhing in the grip of the cat-woman. The orange jacket separating her from the mocha skin of her mentor ripped away under the pure pressure blasting from Yoruichi's shoulders, and while it dissolved away into pure reishi; instead of blasting away completely, lost in the wind, it was drawn towards the left side of Yoruichi's face, where it began to form something new entirely. Something white.

The cold fear seized SoiFon's heart right before the pair slammed into the ground at full speed shunpo, a mushroom of cloud of dirt launching into the air from the force of the impact.

A moment later, a black and violet blur flashed out of the cloud, bounding back up the cliff towards Sokyoku Hill.

When the dust settled away, lying in the center of a crater the size of a small house, was the limp and bruised form of SoiFon. Her Captain's Haori shredded into white strips of cloth that barely clung to her battered body, blackened at the edges from the heat of air friction and the storm of reiatsu that she'd been subject to.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Ichigo calmly drew Sode no Shirayuki while he turned to face Byakuya, twirling the pure white katana of her shikai casually in one hand. "Let's not play around, Captain Kuchiki. You want to stop me from saving your sister because of your ridiculously misguided sense of justice and duty. And I want to kick your ass. Bring out your Bankai and let's get this over with."

He was treated to a cold glare and a mild scowl from the noble, who - to his credit - had barely moved outside of a mild widening of the eyes while Ichigo mopped the floor with the three lieutenants, and even now didn't move to draw Senbonzakura. "Do not act like you have achieved bankai, _boy_."

Ichigo grinned, feeling his hollow writhing in his inner world, Shirayuki's demeanor chill ever further at the condescension of her first wielders adopted brother, and even Zangetsu stiffen in protest to the casual dismissal of their ability. "I haven't. But I don't need bankai to beat some sense into you, _Byakuya._ "

That was Byakuya Kuchiki's only warning before Ichigo raised his left hand - bone white fluid pouring from the tips of his fingers - and formed a mask. White and caramel fading to black and gold in the eye sockets, and a haunting echo of maniacal laughter bridging the gap between them. **'Now we're talking, King.'**

" _ **Bankai, Byakuya… if you want to live."**_ Ichigo warned, the only warning that the Noble got before Ichigo flashed to him, Shirayuki's sharpened tip digging into the ground lightly at his side, leaving a trail of ice in its wake.

Byakuya's eyes went wide when Ichigo flung Shirayuki in his direction with a slash, a wave of ice pellets, snow, and _freezing_ cold air washing out from the blade with no audible call, or the previous ritual steps to the second dance.

Shikai and his usual bankai would be suicide against this power, if Shirayuki could freeze each petal of Senbonzakura and Senbonzakura Kageyoshi…

He turned Senbonzakura over in his hand and _let go_. "Bankai." acquiesced to Ichigo's request, and he willed his Bankai to scatter as soon as the pillar sized blades appeared, and reform into a circle of rotating pink blades in an arena around him and Ichigo. "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi: Senkei."

He usually saved this for people he wanted to _kill_ with his own hands.

Looking at the hollow mask grinning widely at him from the other side of the arena of swords, he quickly decided that Ichigo Kurosaki… Whatever sort of abomination he was… was one of those people.

" _ **About damn time."**_ Ichigo taunted, holding out his left hand and drawing reishi in… Even yanking some petals free of the blades that swirled around them and dissolving them into reishi, and into a black tanto he held in his left hand in an ice pick grip… and tanto which, after a moment of pause in apparent consideration, then lengthened into a wakizashi.

Byakuya fought his own facial expression not to scowl in absolute rage and disgust. In front of him, stood a human boy. Wearing black shinigami shihakusho and a white hollow mask. A pure white shinigami katana in his right hand a pitch black quincy spirit wakizashi in his left.

A _complete_ abomination.

He called two blades to his hands from the four rings of them that surrounded them.

Ichigo's manic grin widened even further. " _ **Let's dance."**_


	14. Chapter 14 - When Angels Fall

Electric blue and pink clashed in flashes that lit up the sky, each clash of one of the blades of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi's senkei form against the black wakizashi of Zangetsu or the white katana of Sode no Shirayuki resulting a flash that would blind anyone standing to watch the spectacle.

Inside of the dome, ringed by four tiers of pink swords, Byakuya Kuchiki had resorted to using two blades of the slaughterscape in his duel against Ichigo Kurosaki's abomination of a form. Shinigami, Quincy, and Hollow, all in one being. Plus, Neutral, and Negative. None of the three were parts were particularly powerful on their own, but with all three blended together? Despite his claim that the Senkei was what happened when he abandoned all defense, and risked everything to kill his opponent with his own hands...well, he'd been thrown on the defensive. The dual blades he bore scarcely able to rise in time to block the barrage of strikes from the masked carrot-top.

Ichigo was flashing _all over the place_. Some of the flashes accompanied with a loud crack of thunder that made the noble's ears ring from the force, some thoroughly silent. He was among the fastest in Soul Society since the exile of his teacher, Yoruichi Shihoin, over a century prior.

And he was a still object standing in the eye of a hurricane compared to Ichigo's speed.

It took every ounce of speed he had to dodge the perioding Tsukishiro and Juhaku dances that Ichigo would throw at him by either drawing a circle on the ground or stabbing his blade into the dirt.

Dirt was no longer the word to describe the surface of the hill beneath them; all traces of lifeless brown that had been there underneath the senkei dome had been replaced with frost, ice, and snow. This didn't seem to bother Ichigo in the least, but Byakuya was steadily running out of solid, grippable surface to stand on.

"Enough!" He scowled, his eternal stoic demeanor breaking finally as he whirled to face the masked and grinning visage of his opponent. "What the hell are you?!"

He received a laugh for his question, and Ichigo stood there calmly across from him, seemingly unconcerned by causing Byakuya's emotional control to falter. _**"Don't know, Don't care. Just a guy who wants to protect my friends."**_ He countered, mask morphing into a disturbing mockery of a smirk. _**"What about you? With all this power, why don't you save Rukia?"**_

Byakuya was silent for a moment, glancing at the ground just beneath Ichigo's feet, as if he had been struck in the gut physically by what Ichigo had asked. "If you defeat me...then I will answer that question."

With this, the raven-haired noble lifted his sword and held it out in front of him. Suddenly the shining pink swords on every level around them shattered back into their petal forms and shot towards him; gathering into his blade. He exploded in a brief tornado of light; first pink, and then rising far enough in intensity to where it became blinding white instead. When the tornado broke, he stood with wings of pure reiatsu, the rest of the spiritual power all focused into the one blade that he held. "Shukei...Hakuteiken."

Ichigo's mask smirked in another mockery of the expression. _**"That's amazing. You've been forgetting one thing this whole time though…"**_ He offered casually, and then raised his gaze above Byakuya's head pointedly. Byakuya narrowed his eyes, while Ichigo began to laugh and then dropped his eyes to meet Byakuya's once more. _**"You forgot to look up."**_ With that, Byakuya blinked, scowled, and followed the teenager's direction to do so.

And found three _enormous_ icicles - actually, more like ice _bergs_ , being the size that they were - hanging in mid air over his head, just over where the top of the senkei's dome had ended. Ichigo had been focusing all the moisture and reiatsu in the air to those three points for the course of their entire fight to build these three monstrosities. _**"Go no Mai: Tsurarada."**_ Ichigo called, and with a flick of Sode no Shirayuki, the three creations of ice crashed down towards the noble, suddenly now under the effects of gravity and more, terminal velocity both reached and exceeded in little but an instant; thrown at him only now, when he'd unleashed the final form of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi's bankai form and thoroughly abandoning _all_ hopes of defending against the attack.

The first icicle shattered in an explosion of ice particles that blinded everyone who dared to have their eyes open. The searing light of Byakuya's Shukei: Hakuteiken reflecting off of every shard, whether they be microscopic or man-sized, and that reflection would reflect off another and another.

The second icicle shattered, adding to the effect; the entire summit of Sokyoku hill trapped in a sphere that resembled both a new-born sun and a giant disco ball of light beams.

The third icicle didn't shatter. Instead it thudded to the ground, kicking frost and snow up off of the ground, a large, roughly shaped and sharpened diamond of ice, roughly the size of the ruined Sokyoku execution stand, stood where Byakuya had been not three seconds before.

On the other side of the circle in the ground where the senkei had once been, now recognizable by all the ice and snow that had built up on the ground inside of it, standing in the snowfall; Ichigo Kurosaki watched the proceeding; his mask cracking and shattering, falling away along with the whispers of his inner hollow.

Only then, did the third icicle explode, showing Byakuya flat on the ground, face down. His body twitching and coughing.

Ichigo felt his knees begin to give; suddenly weak from the expenditure of energy and the focus he'd been forced to spend on the fight. As well as the rush of elation; _victory._ He'd won.

Just then, a flash of black and violet appeared at his side, holding him up. And the flashed away into the forest behind as two bright lights appeared; fading away into tornadoes of bandages, which then fell and dispersed, revealing four...no...five figures.

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Rukia's thoughts were in shambles. Torn in seemingly four different directions. Her body in Renji's arms, being carried away from Sokyoku hill in a dead run. Her soul in her inner world, seemingly in the midst of a seizure under the concerned watch of the twins. Her spirit, watching over the battle between her brother and the wielder of her sword, and her mind; ransacking her memories for any hint of the information she needed to know.

The memories that flowed had no sense of order to them, neither in relevance or in time. _Stabbing Ichigo through the chest and delivering her power to him_. _Stabbing Kaien to end his hollowfied rampage._

Renji, running into Kaname Tosen in the streets of the Seireitei. Being caught in a tornado of bandages and finding themselves returned to the summit of Sokyoku hill, despite all the running the redhead had done to get away from that very place.

"Dance, _Sode no Shirayuki!" Coming from Ichigo's mouth as he tried to save her. The twins, dancing in front of her in joy after she'd promised to give them names._

Sosuke Aizen and that snake of man, Gin Ichimaru, appearing alongside them in the same swarm of bandages, demanding Renji hand her over to him. Her childhood friend, drawing his sword and doing his best to defend her. Aizen stopping Zabimaru's shikai and ripping it to shreds with his bare hands.

 _Ichigo standing between the instrument of her execution and her, looking so calm and confident. A shinigami approaching her and the twins on a hilltop overlooking the Rukongai, ghostly snake with a red scythe tail slithering around his shoulders…_

Ichigo appearing just in time to catch Aizen's killing blow, directed at Renji, on the blade of Sode no Shirayuki. White ribbon billowing in the breeze created by his sudden arrival, and her ears ringing with a crack of thunder that followed.

 _The girl stabbing that monstrous shinigami in the leg...forced to watch from her back as the man approached the two, a ghostly snake slithering around his shoulders, and watching him slice at the twins. Blood spraying the air over that hill…_

Ichigo and Renji teaming up to try and stop Aizen. Renji's Higa Zekko providing a distraction while Ichigo charged forward with unimaginable speed. Blue explosions of reishi and reiatsu left on the ground in the wake of his feet, swinging Sode no Shirayuki with all of his might...only to be stopped by _one finger_ and stabbed in the side by the renegade and thought-dead Captain. Renji getting sliced in the shoulder but an instant afterwards.

'I...remember.' Rukia realized, eyes widened when Ichigo struggled to stand.

' _Rukia?'_ The girl questioned, Rukia clenching her fists while Aizen proceeded to go into a monologue, explaining his plans. How Ichigo had exceeded all expectations by distracting Ichimaru long enough to get inside the walls of the Seireitei before they were lowered, and the rest of his friends provided a flashy entry into the stronghold. Ichigo proving his strength by defeating Mayuri and Kenpachi. The distraction they provided while Aizen went about his deception.

'Your names...I remember...your names.' She declared, sinking into her mental world, losing the rest of Aizen's gloating when she opened her eyes to the mountainous wasteland, turning her wide violet eyes to fall upon the blonde girl with the violet roots, looking at her with green eyes wide as hers, almost in awe.

"Homura…" She whispered. "...A bright flame...showing your passion for all to see…" She then shifted her gaze to the brother, on his knees and looking both relieved and excited that Rukia... _Rukia_ was back. "Shizuku…" She continued, reaching forward to put a hand on their shoulders. "...A silent child, a void of worry or fear. Driven to protect all that you hold dear…"

And then she screamed. _Aizen's hand, turning green, stabbing into her chest in the hunt for the object in her soul that he so desired._

A scream of pain filling her inner world, not her own or that of either twin. "No! Rukia!" It cried as the ground was ripped to shreds, a shining crystal torn from the earth and into the sky. "Take my power!"

 _That same crystal, pulled from her chest between the fingers of the traitor. The Hogyoku._

A hole in her chest that didn't heal, as expected. Shizuku and Homura joined her in her screams as they were bathed in the last light of the Hogyoku, left behind in their world, and their desire not to leave their friend.

The hole in her chest remained, and another opened in her back, extending through her body. The scream that ripped from her throat in the world drowned out only by the storm of dark purple reiatsu that now swirled around her, crackling with power.

And then she vanished.

 _ **SCENE CHANGE**_

"Rukia!" Ichigo called, surging to his feet despite his injuries, reaching for Sode no Shirayuki and the power of his hollow mask appearing in his left hand as he decided that he would _kill_ this bastard.

Before he could, another storm of dark purple reiatsu appeared in front of him, and when it dissipated, there was Rukia Kuchiki, her back to him as she knelt before him in a defensive posture.

Her attire had changed. His eyes started from the bottom...a foot, covered in gray sandals with white socks. Gray, skin-tight pants hugging the curves of her legs, a sleeveless shirt of the same material doing much the same on her torso. Gloves that went all the way up past her elbows, sticking to the theme. Padded white bracers over both gloves, and vest of armor covering the shirt. A sheathed sword on her back - The sheath, white striped with red. The pommel; the head of a snake, with the grip being scaled and white, like the body of such. The guard was a red, wavy like scythe.

Her hair had lightened, what was once pitch black was now more of a dark ashen gray. And he realized after a beat that there was another blade in her mouth - a white kunai, it appeared.

None of this was quite as shocking as the final realization that he could now see - behind the sheath of the sword that hid it from view - A hollow hole through her chest. The barest whispers of the barren ground visible through it.

She turned to face him, and he noted now with growing amazement that there, hanging over her hair on the left side of her head were the white and red, cracked remains of some horror-parody of one half of a skeletal chappy mask.

Her eyes were the only thing that stayed the same.

"Ichigo, are you alright?" She asked, somehow speaking around the scaly grip of the Kunai in her mouth.

Unable to think of any words to respond with, the carrot-top slowly nodded, and she smirked, her left hand coming up to pull the Kunai out of her mouth. "Good."

She turned back, still in her crouch, and glared at the now collected trio of Tosen, Aizen, and Ichimaru, standing to her feet. Everyone on the hill was looking at her in shock. Byakuya and Yoruichi, with their blades to Aizen's throat, Rangiku, standing behind Ichimaru with the same result, and a collection of Onmitsukido standing around Tosen's still form. That crackling whirlwind of dark purple reiatsu stormed around her body once more. Her right hand reached up behind her head, and she drew the sword from her back. A serrated white blade in the vague shape of a Ninjato revealing itself out of the sheath to Ichigo's eyes, ever widening as they were.

He would be the only one to hear the words she whispered as she freed the blade.

"Kiritorimasu...Shizuku no Homura."

* * *

A/N: Heeey! 14 chapters in and a wild author's note appears!

There are a lot of things that just happened in this chapter, so I'm going to try and explain them. Vaguely.

Yes, Rukia just became an arrancar.

Yes, *looks at Antex-The Legendary Zoroark*, Shizuku and Homura are her new 'Zanpakuto'.

Shizuku no Homura (written 静空の焔) means "Quiet Void's Flame". Homura, the girl, takes the form of the Kunai, while Shizuku takes the form of the Ninjato. Kiritorimasu ("Cut Off") is her release command.

And as a lot of you can probably tell, I've rewritten quite a bit of Yoruichi here, as I always found that she felt like an afterthought after her fight with Soi Fon in the show. I wanted her to have a much bigger role.

This is also the point in the fic where my clear cut knowledge of the anime ends (although it is the point where complete diversion happens), so my updates will now likely be MUUUUCH slower.

Hope you've enjoyed! Drop a review if you don't mind, and thanks for reading!


	15. Chapter 15 - Erase Me

AN: Just a warning...I'm not _particularly_ pleased with how this chapter turned out. I'm happy with the events, just not the way I described them or the way it flows. But...I don't have the patience to spend any more time on this chapter. So it'll have to do.

* * *

The storm of black and purple faded away, and for the second time in as many minutes, it appeared, Rukia Kuchiki had changed appearance once again.

The first change, had been from a girl in a white sundress to an Arrancar in a gray and white shinobi outfit. A shocking enough change for all present to see.

Now, all at the summit of Sokyoku hill were presented with another shocking treat entirely; the release of her resurreccion.

Black hair had shifted to a dark ashen gray in her first transformation, now shifted to white. A white sundress that had become a dark gray sleeveless shirt, pants and gloves with white padded vest and bracers had become a seemingly regal white dress with golden trim and red inner lining.

In her right hand, a large staff that appeared in place of the ninjato-sized and elaborately styled Ninjato she had been in the process of drawing, the hilt having extended into a length longer than she was tall, the blade blade having shrunk to a mere sharpened point atop the massive red scythe that the guard had become.

In her left hand, a white diamond shaped orb of sorts that glowed yellow-gold with power while she slowly opened her eyes, casting a seemingly deadened gaze upon the gathered Captain level shinigami and Onmitsukido.

A red cape billowed behind her, flapping in the breeze, at first the only sound in the impeccable quiet permeating the summit of the hill. Rukia took a glance back at Ichigo, and smiled slightly at the gasp that was ripped from his throat when he saw her eyes.

Unchanged in her prior form, now they had. Her eyes were more of a pale violet now. Gray mixed in to the point that they appeared pink. The pupils had shifted from a normal human round to reptilian like slits.

Yoruichi disappeared from Aizen's side with but a whisper of air, the last that Rukia saw of her before her exit a feral grin. The new Arrancar didn't even flinch when she felt more than saw or heard the rush of air blast by her that she knew - belatedly - signified the mocha-skinned goddess of flash blast by her.

She had seen the same blur remove Soi Fon from the summit earlier, in a brief moment before Ichigo had begun her rescue in earnest and her mind had descended into back and forth flashes of memories and observations of the world around her.

She somehow knew that the violet haired woman was not her enemy.

Very few of those present were truly her enemy, unless they made themselves such.

Hands flew to blades on the waist of some of the gathered Onmitsukido of Soi Fon's second division. Rukia frowned and just gripped the orb in her left hand.

The Shinigami started their rush forward to contain her, now seeing her as a threat, when eight massive white snakes burst up from the ground, surrounding her and Ichigo; one directly in front of her, and then one spaced every 45 degrees in a circle around her and the wielder of her Zanpakuto. "I would not come any closer." She warned flatly.

Her voice was distorted heavily. And it would take anyone who lent a closer ear to it to realize it was four voices layered on top of each other.

The tense air was interrupted by a clap.

And then another, and another. Someone was...applauding her?

She scanned the scattered crowd for the source of the noise, until her eyes settled on the bespectacled form of Sosuke Aizen. She showed no outward reaction to his actions, outside of a tightening of her grip on her scythe. He was the reason she was slated to be executed. He was the reason that Ichigo had suffered so much pain. He was the reason she had become this...Hollow, which would never belong in a place such as a Soul Society again.

"Perfect...Absolutely...perfect. You're perfect!" Aizen breathed in awe, his eyes scanning her.

Her grip tightened further.

"You are exactly what I have envisioned from the very start! Zanjutsu, Hoho, Kido, Hakuda...there are limits to what any simple Shinigami can attain. You...both of you…" He breathed again his words slowing, when Rukia felt a hand on her shoulder.

She spared a look behind her and gasped quietly in her own shock when she came face to face with a white and red hockey mask covering Ichigo's face, the bared teeth of the mask set in a grim line. He held Sode no Shirayuki at the ready, and seemed prepared to face off against this entire world at her side if that was what she was about to do.

Her spirits soared, and she turned back to Aizen. "...You're both perfect. You have surpassed those boundaries. You've become hollows, though you remain Shinigami!"

Rukia rolled her eyes and returned to scanning the crowd. Finding herself uninterested in any further indulging of his fascinated monologue. Her adopted brother, at Aizen's side...minutes ago having tried to zip to her rescue only to find her missing from the traitor's grasp...was shaking. The sword he held to Aizen's throat visibly trembling while he stared at her.

Renji wasn't much better.

In fact, just about everyone was trembling.

Looking at her and Ichigo like they were some form of _monster_.

She started trembling herself at that. Each gaze she met painting the picture clearer and clearer in her mind.

She did not belong here anymore.

They would exterminate her like some sort of science experiment gone wrong at the worst. Even if they did give her the benefit of the doubt...she doubted such a decision coming from Yamamoto-sotaichou...she would always be looked at with suspicion and fear.

Ichigo, a Ryoka who came to rescue her, had no allies here in the Soul Society either. He was an outsider...worse, an invader. Who came and tread on every sacred tradition and law held by the afterlife just to save her.

"I must ask though...how is it that you are a hollow with Shinigami powers, and he is a Shinigami with hollow powers? I would think you'd have a mask like him." Aizen questioned, looking between her and Ichigo. She snapped her eyes back to him in a wary glare...though everyone on the hilltop was receiving that look.

"Unless...you never got your Shinigami powers back, did you? They're still held by that boy who came to save you."

' _That...that…'_ Homura's voice trembled in her mind.

'Bastard!' Joined a moment later by that of her brother, Shizuku.

It was around this point, that Rukia realized one thing.

She didn't want to win.

She just wanted to leave.

She wanted to take Ichigo, leave this place, and never return.

She wanted to go back to the way things were, before her brother and Renji came to take her away for her crime.

She just wanted to be _free._

She didn't care about Aizen. She didn't care about his betrayal of Soul Society. For all she cared, the Seireitei could burn to the ground. The only people she found herself able to care about in the slightest were Renji and her brother.

And they would just be better off not knowing.

She turned to look at the carrot-topped teenager standing by her side. "Forgive me, Ichigo." She breathed, and burst into motion. Her scythe suddenly slashing through his body.

It didn't cut. It phased through his flesh, though leaving him standing stock still as if he really had been physically struck by the weapon.

He had been, just not in body.

The world slowed to a crawl. A freeze frame of the world around her as the tendrils of memory wafted off Ichigo, connecting to everyone around him.

She sliced them all.

She erased Ichigo Kurosaki from existence. At least in the minds of those who called Soul Society home. With him, disappeared her crime of granting him her powers. With him, disappeared her transformation into a hollow.

She hoped for him to retain his own memories of these events. But she couldn't afford to wait to be sure that her will was enough to allow him to keep his memories while he disappeared from those of everyone around him.

She launched forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly, and gave one last look at the surrounding Shinigami...all still frozen still. Aizen, Tosen, and Ichimaru being the exceptions...being sucked up by golden beams of light into a tear in the sky by a horde of Menos Grande...they still looked...distant, however.

She found she just didn't care.

She disappeared in a flash of black and violet lightning. Away from Sokyoku hill. Away from Soul Society. Away from her old life.

When she opened her eyes, they were back in Karakura town. Standing out front of the Urahara Shoten. A winded Yoruichi Shihoin standing there waiting for them, with the unconscious forms of Orihime, Chad, and Uryu. Rukia looked to her, about to ask _how_ the Goddess of Flash had returned here as quickly as she had...when the mocha-skinned woman turned fully to face her, and Rukia found herself staring, one half the face she found that of the woman she'd seen on the hilltop...

...The other a porcelain mask in the shape of a cat's face. White with black streaks, a single glowing golden eye, and a fang not unlike a cat's canine. Even the corner of an ear jutted up under the woman's violet locks.

And then the rip in the fabric of reality behind Yoruichi sealed itself shut quietly. A garganta.

Yoruichi reached up and peeled off the fragment of the hollow mask with a chuckle. "Gotta say, Kuchiki...I wasn't expecting that. What'd you do to them?"

Rukia relaxed, looking down at the unconscious boy in her arms. "...I erased us."

And there, in front of the Urahara Shoten, with Orihime, Chad, Uryu and Ichigo already unconscious, Rukia slumped to the ground and dispelled her resurreccion, leaning against Ichigo's form and clutching it to her tightly, and then closed her eyes.

"Yare yare." Spoke a voice from the door of the Shoten, the found of a fan snapping open and the clacking of wooden clog sandals echoing around the space in front of the shop. "Quite the entrance, Yoruichi. How'd it go?"

Yoruichi turned to him and smirked. "Aizen got the Hogyoku. But something tells me it doesn't matter much...not with these two."

The blonde man smirked slightly, hidden behind the fan and his eyes hidden by the brim of his hat. "You think you can get them ready?"

"We'll give them two weeks to catch their breath." Yoruichi declared, looking down at the Shinigami-turned-Hollow and the Human-turned-Shinigami, leaning on each other at her feet. "After that, just leave it to me and the others."

"Hmm...and what's a humble shopkeeper to do while you Vizard are busy training the kid?"

Yoruichi gave him a blank look of wry amusement. "I stopped trying to tell you what to do decades ago, Kisuke."

The fan snapped shut, revealing a wide grin on the face of the man, his eyes still hidden under the brim of his hat.


	16. Chapter 16 - Animal I Have Become

Rukia cracked her eyes open groggily. It took her a while for her to gain her bearings, and when the vision of the world around her solidified into something more than just a non-sensical blur of colors, the raven haired midget found herself looking straight at… herself?

"Ah. Kuchiki-san. You're awake I see! Tell me. Do you feel any… different? Spikes of violent rage, insatiable hunger for pure souls, lack of empathy for the pain and suffering of others?" He asked, clacking open his fan as he walked into view, hiding a smile behind the wooden instrument.

She graced him with a flat, deadpan stare. Realizing that she was trapped in some dome-like barrier on a futon, and that she hadn't been looking at herself, merely a gigai styled in her image.

Which reminded her.

She disappeared out of the barrier and suddenly appeared next to the blonde shopkeeper in a flash of black and purple lightning, and planted her fist in his gut with a scowl. "THAT… is for hiding that thing inside me and sticking me in a draining gigai!" She scowled at his slumped over form, 'hmph'ing in a 'serves you right' manner as she crossed her arms and glared down at him.

At least until she noticed the mountain of a man crouched in the corner who looked wide-eyed at the fact that she'd so effortlessly bypassed his barrier, that she could already hear him speed-chanting out a bakudo spell. "Eh?" She asked, blinking, before five pillars of iron slammed down out of nowhere on her, pinning each limb and then her torso to the ground. "Hey! What the hell?!"

"In case you haven't noticed, Kuchiki-san." Urahara declared, straightening as if he hadn't even felt the punch now. "You're a hollow now." He motioned down to her, and Rukia froze. "As much as I would like to believe you're still Rukia Kuchiki, I can not afford to be too careless."

A hollow. She swallowed and shook her head, trying to deny it… but she couldn't. As soon as she moved her head she felt the fragments of the broken mask on the left side of her head. She felt the void in her chest where her hollow hole resided.

"How?" She asked weakly, looking back up to Urahara in fear. "How am I a hollow? How am I in _control_ if I'm a hollow?"

Urahara snapped his fan shut, revealing that his grin had turned into a frown. "I had hoped you could tell me, Kuchiki-san." He admitted.

She shook her head. "I… I don't know." She whispered.

"Then I would very much suggest you go to your inner world and see if you can find out." He suggested, casually leaning on his cane. Then he lifted his fan and used it to gesture at the gigai. "That is for you. Consider it an apology gift."

Despite her confusion, Rukia did manage to narrow her eyes at him suspiciously and scowl at that reveal. To which he ducked his head and hid his expression behind the brim of his hat.

"I assure you, Kuchiki-san. This is a normal, albeit untraceable, gigai. It will not drain your powers."

Rukia bit her tongue from making any snide comments and sighed, looking at the large man maintaining the Bakudo that was holding her in place.

"Let me go. Please? I'm not going to attack you or eat you." She muttered. And then sighed with relief as the Gochutekkan spell holding her down faded away in response, removing the five iron pillars of weight from her limbs and neck. "Thank you." She murmured, pushing herself up to her feet slowly, and taking a minute to examine herself. No shihakusho anywhere to be found, instead clad in her new Arrancar garb of the gray and white Shinobi outfit. She sighed and hugged herself, turning and stepping into the gigai for now.

She needed to find Ichigo. And explain to him what had happened. But to do that she needed to find out for sure what had happened herself.

She sighed and sat up, flexing the hand of her gigai. "Where's Ichigo?" She asked, turning to Urahara.

"Still passed out in the other room. Whatever you did, did a number on him." Another voice came from the doorway, and Rukia found herself turning to look at golden eyes, mocha skin and violet hair. "Cmon." The woman instructed, cocking her head to the side and using it to motion out the door. "I'll take you to him."

 _ **SCENE BREAK**_

Rukia jerked back to reality when Ichigo's hand twitched in hers. She had been at his side for the past two days while he rested, mostly spent talking to Yoruichi or in her inner world, talking with Shizuku and Homura, trying to piece together some kind semblance of an idea as to what had happened to Ichigo, with that mask, and what had happened to her to make her into a Hollow.

She glanced up and met his eyes nervously. How much would he remember?

"... Rukia?" He asked blearily, trying to blink away his sleep.

She smiled. "Well… at least you remember me. That's a start."

"But I just… we just went through the Senkaimon to soul society to rescue you… what happened? Where are we?" He asked, moving to try and sit up.

She put a hand to his chest and pushed him back down.

"That was about a week ago. We're back at Urahara's shop." She answered the first and last question first. Then sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "As for what happened… You lost your memory of the last week because of the way we escaped. I'm going to try and explain. But… there's going to be a lot of things you aren't going to understand at first, strawberry. So… don't freak out. Okay?" She asked, focusing her eyes on his until she received a furrowed brow of confusion and a nod of acceptance.

She took a deep breath. "Alright… worst things first, I suppose." She murmured, and then stood. She grabbed his wrist and lifted it, allowing him to see that the fingerless red gloves with the skull and the flame emblem that she had used to force him out of his body while he was her substitute was fitted onto his hand, and then she brought it to her chest and _pushed_.

Her gigai, the last visual of the Rukia he remembered, clad in a white sundress, fell off of the stool on which she sat and onto the floor with a thud.

She winced, looking at him. Her fragmented hollow mask adorning the left side of her face, her shinobi-esque clothing hugging against her body, and his gloved hand extending through the hole in her chest and resting against the sheath of the sword strapped on her back.

His expression was almost comical.

"Rukia… you're…"

"A hollow. Kind of. Yeah, I know." She sighed, running a hand through her hair on the right side. Glad that at least he hadn't instantly run away from her.

"Kind of?" His brow furrowed in confusion.

"I'm an Arrancar. A hollow that has removed its mask and gained Shinigami powers."

"... How?" He asked, and her lips twitched.

"That's… quite the explanation." Rukia admitted, gently pulling away from him to sit back down in the stool. "Would you mind if I covered what's happened with you first? I don't know as much of that. So it should go quicker."

At his shrug, she continued. "Right. Well. Since I don't know much, I won't spend a lot of time. Though I don't have my sketchbook so-"

"-Thank God." Ichigo praised, looking up at the ceiling, happy he didn't have to see any of her terrible illustrations that were supposed to help him understand things and usually just ended up with him spending more time confused trying to figure out what the hell he was looking at than anything else.

Rukia pinned him with a thoroughly unamused stare for the casual insult to her drawing abilities. "You entered Soul Society, defeated Jidanbo, the gatekeeper for the western gate into the Seireitei, and fought your way inside. At this point you got split up with Yoruichi, Orihime, Uryu, and Chad. They were trapped outside of the gate due to the intervention of Captain Gin Ichimaru of the Third. You fought Ichimaru for a bit, then escaped."

She waited for another nod before she continued. "I'm not sure exactly when, where or how, but you then encountered and defeated first Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the 12th, and then Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of the 11th. During your fight with Kenpachi, your inner hollow took over. Yes,you have an inner hollow. No, I don't know how. Basically, you're the opposite of me. Where I am an Arrancar… a Hollow with Shinigami powers, you are a Vizard...a Shinigami with Hollow powers. Don't worry, you didn't kill him… Apparently you regained control and froze him solid with Sode no Shirayuki's fourth dance. Congratulations, by the way. I don't even know that one." Rukia's mouth twitched with a smile.

Ichigo seemed to wince at the idea of having an inner hollow, and this was the point where her knowledge of his rescue crusade came in, most of it from conversing with Yoruichi. "Then Yoruichi took you away and trained you to subdue that Inner Hollow, as opposed to Bankai like was planned."

"...Wait. The Cat taught me to suppress my inner hollow?" Ichigo blinked.

His blink was answered with one of her own. "... She's a cat?"

"YORUICHI'S A SHE!?"

Rukia blinked again, and then burst into giggles.

"Alright, Alright…" She managed after a minute, trying to regain her composure. "Seriously though. Apparently you met up with Renji at that point, and that's when you interrupted my execution, and beat Nii-sama." She finished. "That's where things got… weird." She admitted, sighing and dropping her head and rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'm going to have to tell you some of my history for this to make any sense. Decades ago, before I ever became a Shinigami, I met two kids that had the power to teleport at will. I took care of them in the hellhole that was the 78th District. They didn't have any names, and I promised to name them one day. But before I could, we were attacked by a Hollow masquerading as a Shinigami. They died protecting me, and I forgot all about it, because that particular Hollow had a power which allowed it to erase memories."

She ran a hand through her hair again. "After I became a Shinigami, a different hollow… took over my Lieutenants body. And I had to kill him - my mentor and one of my closest friends - because of it. Sode no Shirayuki might have already told you this part. I've been a… bit of a mess since then. I've felt guilty. I should have done _something_. But I couldn't."

She paused to take a breath and let that sink in. "After I gave my powers to you, I started to feel guilty about that too. I've changed your life forever, and brought you so much pain. When you called Sode no Shirayuki's name when fighting Renji… it reminded me of something else I'm guilty of: Shutting her out." She idly wondered, before continuing on her explanation, if Sode no Shirayuki would be able to help him process all of this. Or maybe get his memories back.

"This is where the kids come in. That Hollow returned to Hueco Mundo after eating them. Where they managed to subdue it together, and then separate. They regained control. They'd been trying to find me again ever since, wanting to see me again and learn the names I picked out for them. When I realized Sode no Shirayuki was gone...it opened up a void that allowed them to find their way to me. Kind of. They teleported into my inner world and merged with me." She explained. "In a way, they're my new Zanpakuto." She gestured to the blades on her hip and back.

"When you interrupted my execution, it caused me to remember the names I wanted to give them. Shizuku-." She gestured to the Ninjato-like sword on her back. "-And Homura." She then gestured to the Kunai on her hip. "It got really weird from there, part of me was stuck in my body, where Renji was carrying me away. Part of me was in my soul, where Shizuku and Homura were trying to care for me, part of me was stuck in memories, and part of me was somehow watching you fight my brother. I'm assuming that was because of my connection to Sode no Shirayuki." She admitted with a shrug. She really didn't know; it was the best idea she had beyond pure flipping magic as to why she was able to witness the majority of Ichigo's battle with her adoptive older brother.

Ichigo himself, was remaining blissfully silent and just listening to all of this, allowing the puzzle pieces of her new status as an Arrancar and the events missing from his mind to fall into place.

"This is where it turned out my execution was just some secret plot that we both got stuck in. Urahara hid an artifact in my soul, called the Hogyoku, which has the power to break down the walls between a Plus - or, in my case, a Shinigami - and their negative - a.k.a. Hollow - side. Allowing someone to be both, instead of just one or the other. My death sentence was a ploy by a traitor among the Shinigami… Captain Sosuke Aizen of the Fifth, along with accomplices Ichimaru and Captain Kaname Tosen of the ninth… to obtain that artifact and further their own power after they'd murdered the Central 46." She glanced up at him again, berating herself for not being able to meet his eyes much at all during this explanation.

"You succeeded in stopping him from killing me to obtain it by evaporating my soul, so instead he had to use a different method. He reached into my soul through some weird technique and removed the Hogyoku, but in doing so, he accidentally activated it. That destroyed all the barriers between Hollow and Shinigami in my soul. Since you have Sode no Shirayuki, and I was and still am harboring a lot of guilt, the negative side became dominant. I turned into a Hollow with some leftover Shinigami powers, as opposed to a Shinigami with Hollow powers, like you."

She sighed and leaned back. "Normally, I would have become an _actual_ Hollow. Mask and all, and had to remove it to become an Arrancar. Urahara isn't sure how I skipped that step, but I think it might be because Shizuku and Homura already subdued my Inner Hollow years ago, before it ever _was_ mine." She shrugged again, indicating that, as stated… She wasn't entirely sure of this theory, but it was the best she had at the moment.

"Which brings me to how you don't remember any of this: My hollow is the same one that I faced a century ago that wiped my memories of Shizuku and Homura. I have that same power. When I turned into a Hollow, I knew that even with Aizen's betrayal being the reason for my execution in the first place, the Shinigami would never allow me to live as a Hollow. Nor would they allow you to live with Hollow powers." She motioned to him. "So… I used that power and I erased you from the memories of everyone in Soul Society, barring Orihime, Chad, Uryu and Yoruichi." She admitted, looking down and clenching her fist. More guilt consuming her. "With no memory of you, they don't have any memory of me giving you my powers either. So… as far as they know, I hope, they think I went missing in the living world three months ago. But in doing this, I caused you to lose your memories too. I… I'm sorry, Ichigo. I wish there had been another way…"

She received a bonk on the head from his outstretched hand.

"Oi, shut up, midget." He scoffed.

"Wha-?" Rukia blinked at the sudden rebuttal, her eyes shooting up to meet his.

"I went to that damn place to save you. If it took me losing a week's worth of memories to do that, then I'd say it went pretty damn well. Now shut up and stop feeling bad about yourself." He scowled at her. And she found herself glaring back at him indignantly… and then softening into a smile.

"Baka-strawberry. Don't be too sweet and make me eat you." She joked so as to try and keep herself from being _too_ emotional.

He scoffed. "You don't even know how to eat me."

"I'm a hollow. Of course I know how to eat you, I just haven't wanted to."

"I wouldn't taste very good."

"You're a strawberry. You'd taste delicious."

"What the hell kind of kinky shit did I just walk in on and why wasn't I invited?" Asked a voice from the door, where Yoruichi was leaning against the doorframe, looking _thoroughly_ amused.

Rukia and Ichigo both flushed redder than Renji's hair at that, and Rukia threw a red ball at Yoruichi in her irritation. "Yoruichi!" She hissed.

The goddess of flash dodged it effortlessly, grinning all the same. "Ah, You learned Bala. Good job."

" _That's_ Yoruichi?" Ichigo asked, blinking between the two women.

The mocha-skinned Goddess of Flash pouted at that. "Aw. You don't remember me, Ichi-Kun?" She asked, then reached up to grab the hem of her shirt...beginning to pull it up. "And you don't remember _these?_ "

" _What the hell_ are you _**doing**_?!" Both Ichigo and Rukia shrieked in different tones, Ichigo's more confused, Rukia's more irritated as she charged another bala and threw it at the werecat.

Yoruichi, again, sidestepped it deftly. "Aw. Are you jealous, Rukia? There's no need for that. I don't mind sharing…" She purred.

Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi would later be left to sadly lament on the impromptu interior remodeling done to the Urahara Shoten, courtesy of Rukia's first ever Cero attack.


End file.
